Devil May Cry: Restitution
by The Bone Snatcher
Summary: Friends will be made, and lost. Brotherly bonds will be tested, lives will be touched, and destroyed. Old foes will lend their strength to fight for both the human and demon worlds, and their blood will paint the skies. Sequel to Devil May Cry: Revolution
1. Ten month marker

_**STOP~!**__ Before you read on, please note that this is a sequel to another story titled __**Devil May Cry: Revolution**__and if you don't read it first, some characters, references or situations other characters are in may not make sense later on so please if you haven't read it, go read Revolution first and make your way to Restitution~! Many thanks in advance~!_

_All oc's/original characters are copyright to me with the exeption of Azera and those associated with her ie, brothers, sisters, ect. She belongs to Infernal Blossom on FF here and Lunarei-Kazegin on deviantART_

**BOOM!**

The sound of the gas tank exploding as the bullet made impact echoed through the vacant street filling the young man's ears with the cry of the metal as the flames tore it apart. He didn't think he could do it, not after what he'd just been through. But he did and there was no turning back now.

"Holy shit... Night, what the hell was that?" The young man's female companion asked in utter shock. Night, the younger man, turned his head to his partner quite shocked himself. He'd almost forgotten she was there and half questioned whether or not he was just hallucinating, but the terror in her eyes reminded him of all that happened.

Everything had lead up to this moment, everything he'd endured, everything he'd had to fight through, the blood he'd had to spill by his own hands in order to find himself here, now standing beside this terrified woman. His best friend whom he'd probably scarred for life by allowing her to come along, by allowing her to aid him in his plight. By allowing himself to let someone in.

"I... I don't know... I just couldn't stand to hear her voice anymore... I had to..." His heart stopped in that moment as darkness filled the scene, enveloping everything in sight. Slowly Night's icy blue eyes opened only to find himself staring at a white ceiling, a much softer scene compared to the roaring flames he'd seen just moments ago. "... I had to pull the trigger..."

_**10 Months Earlier**_

Night found himself knocking on his best friends window for the fifth time in a week. His short black hair just meet his ice blue eyes. Beneath his black hoodie a streak of red flashed through the left side of his bangs, popping against the dark colour of his hair. One could tell this wasn't his natural hair colour though as the silvery-white roots showed dramatically from the top. He wore a tattered white t-shirt with a faded blue 13 on the front which he'd painted on himself. Shifting his weight now his eyes trailed to the worn out black jeans accompanied by his worn out black boots and chain on his side.

The sudden sound of the window opening made him turn and face the irritated woman now standing in the opening.

"You know I have something called a door, you should try using it sometime mister Sparda..." The browned eyed woman eyed her dark haired friend rather annoyed.

"Yeah but, where's the fun in that? Jumping to a window seven storeys high has more appeal to it than simply walking in a using the elevator." Night replied with a smirk.

"Of course. That'd be too normal to use an elevator or take the stairs like a normal human being..." The woman replied walking away from the window allow Night entry into the house.

"D'you see a human around Shion?" Night asked in return as he climbed through the open window, leaning against the ledge. Shion darted her eyes back to the male figure in the window with a hint of sarcasm flashing through them.

"Not a full blooded one, unless you're referring to me mister Sparda..."

"I hate it when you call me that you know..."

"Why, too formal for you little boy?"

"I'm not that little, I'm 19. And it's not because I find it too formal..."

"I'm 22 so that makes you a little boy to me. And if it's not that it's too formal then what is it?"

"That's what my mother used to call me when she was angry."

"When WASN'T that loon angry?" An awkward silence fell over the two at the mention of Night's mother. The young half demon's eyes fell to the floor as his memories resurfaced and with the memories came his fear. The fear that one day she might find him again, or even worse. That he'd be forced to confront her alone. "You know, you're going to have to forget about her one day Night..."

"I can't Shion, it's not that simple..."

"Why not, what's the big deal? You just march right back up that mountain and tell her what for!"

"Again, it's not that simple. It's not just HER I have to worry about. She turned the whole village against me. They'd chase me out the moment they saw me."

"Well that's ridiculous then. What me to come with you?"

"No, I don't much feel like going back there tonight..."

"Then we'll go tomorrow night."

"Don't you have to work at The Panther tonight?"

"Right I almost forgot about... Shit." Shion ran her hand through her short red-brown hair lost in thought for a moment before she sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Well I've got nothin... Look Night, we'll deal with this together okay? You're not alone in all this I'm here to help you. What else are friends good for right?"

Night simply shrugged. "I guess..." Shion rolled her eyes when Night turned his head back to the floor.

"D'you wanna come with me? My shift's not over till closing but it'd get you outta the house and out for a night for once."

"Nah, I'm just gonna head home and see if I can't sleep this off... It's no big deal."

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure... I'll be fine, you just go do your job and I'll call you tomorrow, kay?"

"Mmmhmm, Night Conner Sparda YOU my good sir need a phone. I'm tired of worrying about you all the time."

"Yeah I hear yea. I'm working on that."

"Well stop working on it and get on that crummy landlady's case already or I'm gonna be all over her." By the time Shion finished her sentence Night had already jumped out the window to the ground below. "What the... HEY!"

"I said I'm working on it!" He called up to her in the window.

"I wasn't finished you jerk!"

"I can't stand it when you get all up in arms about my place. Besides, aren't you running a little late?" Night grinned as Shion looked at her watch and realized she was late for work already.

"Ugh, okay fine. But YOU need to get on that situation and I mean it!" With that Shion slammed her window shut and rushed around to get ready for her shift at a local bar called The Black Panther.

"Easier said than done. That woman's a tyrant..." Night muttered to himself as he strolled down the street to a payphone. Hesitantly he reached into his pocket pulling out a few coins and popping them into the coin slot. As he dialled the number written on his left arm he wondered if it was a good idea to be calling his other friend so late, especially since he didn't know who the guy he was staying with was. "Damn it Nero, you really picked a hell of a time to go on a little vacation didn't you...?" Quietly Night muttered to himself 'Don't pick up, please don't pick up' only to find himself sorely disappointed when the males voice rang out on the other end of the line.

"Devil May Cry"

"Shit..." The word slipped out silently. He hated talking to people he knew nothing about and he hated talking on the phone even less._'This is a real double whammy. I don't know the guy AND I have to talk to him. ON THE PHONE of all things!'_

"Hello...?" The man seemed less than impressed that Night hadn't responded to him yet.

"Yeah hi. Sorry, is Nero there by chance?"

"Nope, he just stepped out. Can I ask who this is?"

"Can you just tell him that Night called?"

"Night huh, cool name."

"Thanks I guess..."

"Uhh sure I'll let him know you called. What's your number?"

"Uhh I don't have one."

"You don't have a number?"

"I don't have a phone." There was silence on the other end of the line. "Hello?"

"You know what, why don't you just come down here? He won't be gone long."

"Where's here?"

"Big neon sign kid, can't miss it."

"Okay? What's this sign say?"

"Devil May Cry." With that said that man hung up. Night, a little bewildered by the guy slowly placed the phone back on the receiver and shook his head.

"What a loon... Who the hell names a place Devil May Cry?" He thought to himself as he wandered the streets looking for the elusive sign. It had gotten dark before Night found his way to the eerie red glow of the neon letters. He stood there looking up at the sign squinting at the light. "I give that D a week. TOPS..." Satisfied with his scrutiny Night walked up to the door and raised his hand about to knock but instead chose to try opening the door and much to his chagrin, it did. "Not surprising really. A sign that pretentious could only SCREAM that the door'd be unlocked."

Taking a deep breath Night walked inside and took a look around, closing the door behind him causing the bell to ring with the force. Slowly and cautiously he surveyed the scene taking everything in. To his left was a pool table, his right an old jukebox, a vintage drum set and an over filled trashcan. Just in front of him sat a large wooden desk and seated at the desk with his feet draped across the top beside a box of pizza and a magazine in hand was, who he assumed to be, the man on the phone clad in red. Without even looking up from his page the man spoke like he'd seen it all before.

"Night I presume?"

"Uhh, yeah. I'm Night Sparda..." That's when the young man began to feel uneasy. The red clad man looked up from his magazine and stared at Night with an odd look.

"Scuse me?" He sat upright in his seat and looked at the younger half devil closer. "What'd you say your name is?"

"Uhh, Night Sparda? Why?" Night shifted his weight, eyeing the door for a chance to escape.

"Where'd you get the last name kid?"

"My mother?"

"And where'd your mother here it?"

"Look, I didn't come here for a drill sergeant I came here to see my friend."

"I know I know. You came here to see Nero. He's not gonna be back for another half hour at least buddy so you might as well make yourself comfortable."

"Kinda hard to do that when you're playing 20 Questions with me..."

"I just wanna know where your mother heard the name Sparda..."

"I don't know, why's this so important? Who are you anyway?" Night jumped back a bit when the man got up and strode casually over to him looking him right in the eyes with the same icy blue orbs as his own.

"The name's Dante. And that LAST NAME of yours happens to be my father..."


	2. Three of a kind

"And STAY out!" Shion shouted as she kicked a drunken fool out of the bar. Sometimes she wondered why Tito let guys like him into the bar; they were lousy womanizing idiots with bad attitudes not to mention they had little respect for the place. "I swear, you people make me sick. Why don't you stop snivelling, get up off your ass once in a while and get your shit together before you come back here..." With her outburst over, Shion walked back inside ushering the bystanders to stop gawking and go back to their business. Being the only female bouncer in the place was tough enough let alone the fact that she was the ONLY one on tonight. "Yo, TITO!"

"What?" A short, plump and balding man poked his head out from behind the bar to see who was yelling for him over the loud music of The Panther. Shion quickly pushed passed the gaggle of customers until she reached bar and leaned against the edge to try and get what little privacy there was at this hour.

"Where the hell's my backup tonight huh? I thought I wasn't going to do a solo shift tonight!"

"Calm down Desiree. I called Brock and Tyler and told them to get their asses here pronto..."

"And? What'd they say? I know there's more to the story than that Tito..." Shion sighed impatiently when Tito didn't respond right away. "Tito..."

"They quit..."

"What? And you just LET them up and quit?"

"They've gone off to try and get a job at THE FLAME" Tito made dramatic air quotes as he mocked his rival bar. "I swear two bars opening on the same night in the same end of town isn't a coincidence. That sneaky bastard did this on purpose to try and do me in again. But I won't let the bright neon lights of The Crimson Flame overshadow my glorious Blank Panther. I've worked TOO hard to let that miserable con artist run my business into the ground..."

"Okay okay I get it, you and the snake at The Flame have a beef, but you gotta get some new people in here Tito I can't be a one woman show forever. I NEED backup!"

"Alright alright. Don't you worry your pretty little head Desiree, I'll have some new guys in here by Monday I promise you. The last thing I need is my best employee running off to work for some other schmuck."

Shion laughed a little before pushing off the bar to get back to crowd control. "Thanks Tito, I owe you one!"

-

Night stood there stunned by Dante's words. _'His father? But I thought...He can't be...'_ He couldn't believe what he'd heard. If Dante was telling the truth, Night had a lot more to worry about than just his mother and his OTHER little problem.

"So, where'd your mother get that name Night?" Dante asked again, arms folded across his chest. Night backed up a bit, eyeing the door out of the corner of his eyes. It was now or never, either he was going to bolt or he was going to stay here and try to confront one of his biggest fears.

"I..." He started, but already he could tell that he wasn't up to the challenge that Dante presented with his presence. So in one quick movement Night turned and dashed for the door only to wind up running into a tall dark haired woman, taking both her and himself to the ground with a harsh thud.

"Ow, what the hell is your problem?" An angry Lady shouted as she shoved Night off of her. "Watch where you're going next time asshole!"

"S-sorry! I'm sorry! I-I wasn't expecting the door to open, I was just..." Night stopped realizing he wasn't getting anywhere with his rambling and instead stood up and offered his hand to Lady. "Sorry.."

"Hmm, well at least you're polite unlike SOMEBODY I know.." Lady glared at Dante standing in the doorway as she used Night's hand to pull herself to her feet. "So who are you anyway?"

"I'm Night." Night replied cautiously eyeing Dante out of the corner of his eyes making sure the man in red wasn't about to try anything.

"Night huh? I like it." Lady said with a grin. "I'm Lady." Lady extended her hand and Night shook it nervously.

"Nice to meet you..."

"So, what's going on here huh? What'd you do to him Dante?"

"Me?" Dante scoffed. "I didn't do anything to the kid, he just bolted when I asked him a question."

"And what exactly did you ask him...?" Lady wasn't in the mood for Dante's games today and the hunter could tell. He sighed before replying with another sigh.

"I asked him why his mother gave him his last name."

"Okay...? What's so bad abou-..." Lady was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

"His name's Night Sparda..." Dante intervened. Lady was speechless and she shifted her attention between the elder hunter and the younger man standing off to the side with a worried look on his face.

"Oh... He's not.. Is he?" She finally managed to spit out a few words. Dante merely shrugged.

"Who knows. I'm waiting on Nero to find out what HE knows about our little friend here..." Dante looked Night up and down trying to figure the young one out. Aside from the short black hair and nervous posture he did remind him quite a bit of Vergil, but there was something else. Something different from him, something Dante couldn't quite put his finger on. He tilted his head to the side staring him down trying to figure out just what made him seem so familiar yet so different at the same time.

"Would you stop staring at me like that, you're freaking me out!" Night shouted tugging his hoodie closed a little tighter around his body.

"Am I making you uncomfortable kid?" Dante asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Dante..." Lady hissed with a warning tone.

"Cut the crap old timer..." Nero's voice snapped the three out of their conversation. "Night, what're you doing here?"

"Looking for you?" Night sounded less than impressed.

"Huh, how'd you find the place?"

"I told him where to look.." Dante replied before Night had the chance. "Say kid, you mind tellin me a little about your buddy Night here?"

"Uhh, sure?" Nero was a little confused by Dante's sudden curiosity in his friend. "What exactly did you want to know Dante?"

"Well for starters you can tell me how you met him."

"At a bar...?"

"What bar? Come on kid be more specific then that!"

"Alright sheesh. I met him through a friend of Lady's at a bar called The Black Panther. Her name's Shion or Desiree or something..."

"Shion." Night intersected. "Her name's Shion Taylor. Desiree's her alias at The Panther."

"Right." Nero said, remembering now. "Anything else you wanted know, cause I kinda wanna offload some of this crap you sent me for..." Nero motioned to the boxes of Budweiser and magazines under his arms.

"I'll take those." Dante said grabbing the box of magazines and setting them off to the side. "Now how about his last name? You know anything about that?"

"Night told me his mother knew your father but anything beyond that's a mystery even to me..."

"Huh.. And uh, what about this woman friend of his. Would she know anything about it?"

"Why's this so important to you Dante?" Night asked angrily.

"Because I make it my business to know what's going on where my old man is concerned." Dante replied just as hostile.

"Well my family's none of your business."

"Well I've made it my business now spill. WHERE'D your mother hear the damn name."

"If you want to know so badly, she was involved with him!" Dante was taken aback by Night's words. He couldn't see his father cheating on his mother, not ever, so how he could have been involved with this boy's mother was beyond him.

"You're lying..."

"Oh I'm lying am I? Then what's this?" Night pulled out his silver locket and opened it to show Dante the contents. On the left side was a picture of a woman with a young white haired boy, on the right was a white haired man with two young white haired boys. "Who's that in the picture you suppose?"

"... I'd presume the black haired woman on the left is your mother..." Dante replied quietly.

"Yeah, that's her and I when I was five. On the right is your father..."

"No..."

"No?"

"That's not just my father kid, that's me and my twin brother Vergil... Where'd you get this picture?"

"My mother gave it to me..." Night muttered as he looked at the pictures.

"So where is she?" Lady asked.

"Where's who?" Night asked a little confused.

"Your mother."

"Oh uhh... She's... I'm not talking to her right now, if that answers your question..."

"Does she live in town?" Dante questioned. Night shook his head then motioned it towards the mountain on the outskirts of town.

"She lives in a cabin up on the mountain there..."

"You kiddin? She lives ALL the way up there?"

"Yeah last I checked." Night shifted uncomfortably at the thought of his mountain home, Dante catching this out of the corner of his eyes.

"She makes you uncomfortable huh?" He mocked.

"I didn't have the greatest of childhoods if that's what you're implying..." Night spat insulted.

"Dante, stop picking at him and leave him be." Nero growled as he pushed passed the elder hunter and sat the box of booze on his desk. "How old's this pizza?"

"Been sittin there since yesterday, why you buyin?" The elder hunter mused.

"I guess, since you still haven't paid your tab... You wanna come Night?"

"I'd like the kid to stay here with me..."

"Not a chance old man. I don't need you traumatizing him any more than he already is. Come on Night." Nero punched Dante in the arm as he strode off down the street to Dante's favourite pizza joint.

"Comin..." Night jogged off after Nero and vanished around the corner with him.

"What a punk..." Dante muttered.

"Dante you don't have to be such an ass, for all you know that boy could be your brother." Lady scolded him as she walked into his office and picked up one of the cues lying on the table."

"And if he is, he's only my brother by half. There's no way we have the same mother." Dante argued.

"Still makes him your brother. Now just imagine how it'd make you feel if you just met your brother and he turned out to be a total prick."

"But my brother IS a total prick. That's just how Vergil is, besides." Dante sat back down at his desk and threw his feet upon the top. "We don't know for sure that the kids really my brother yet, and I'm willin to bet that his mother knows a lot about him even if he doesn't."

"So what are you going to do Dante, march up the hill and go ask her about her son? There must be a reason Night's not up there with her."

"Yeah and I bet it's some lame excuse too. What about this friend of his, Shion?"

"Shion probably knows a lot more about him then Nero does, but I wouldn't advise you go harass her for the answers."

"Who says I'd harass her?"

"Dante you and I BOTH know how you are with woman..."

"Yeah, and you and I both know that I don't see a problem with it."

"THAT'S what I'm worried about..."

-

"You okay Night? You seem kinda bummed out..." Nero asked as Night sat silently at the table fiddling with his locket.

"I don't know what to do..." He half whispered as he opened and closed the silver trinket for the fortieth time in a row.

"Don't know what to do about what?"

"About Dante... I don't know what to tell him..."

"What's there to say? He' a jerk, just forget about him."

"I can't Nero..."

"Why not?"

"Because he's my father..." Night's words trailed off making the rest of his sentence incoheirent.

"WHAT?" Nero almost jumped out of his skin. "Dante's your father?"

"What? NO!" Night smacked his hand against his face in embarrassment. "I meant HIM." Night pointed to the older white haired man in the photo with Dante and Vergil. "HE'S my father, not Dante. God I'd shoot myself if Dante were my father!"

"Oh..." Nero sighed with relief placing his hand on his chest. "Almost gave me a heart attack Night..."

"I gave YOU a heart attack? I thought bI/b was the paranoid one around here..."

"Yeah yeah... So uh.. Sparda huh?"

"Yep, I'll be damned if I know anything about the guy though."

"Well you could always ask Dante. I mean, he IS your brother if Sparda's your father..."

"I could, but I'd rather not..."

"What about Vergil?"

"What about him? If Dante's this bad I could only imagine what he's like..."

"I think he's dead anyway..."

"When did that happen?" Night shifted in his seat as a group of drunk bikers walked past the table pushing and shoving each other.

"A while ago now... Anyways..." Nero looked to the counter as their number was called. "That's us... Look Night, you're going to have to confront Dante about this."

"That's what I was trying to avoid... What do I do, just walk up and say HEY Dante I'm your little brother, oh and did you know my mother's a complete nut job? Is that what I'm supposed to do?"

"Well, maybe not quite like THAT but..."

"But what? I'm terrified enough of the idea of having an older brother let alone having to CONFRONT him about it..."

"Just stay calm and talk to him."

"But what do I tell him, where do I start?" Night flinched when Nero put his devil bringer over his hands to stop him from fiddling with his locket. Slowly he looked Nero in the eyes nervously awaiting his friends' response.

"You start from the beginning and tell him the truth Night..."

"That's what I was afraid you were going to say..."


	3. Old enemies

_**Quick Note:**__ There is an italicised TwT you will see in one of Night's sentences... That's supposed to be an emoticon so please bear with me on that =w= I couldn't convey the right feeling without it...  


* * *

_

"No." She was obviously serious; there was no question about that. "Do it yourself, you're just as capable as I am Night."

"Aw come on, it's not like I'm asking you to do it FOR me. Just help me out a little!" Night pleaded. He glanced at Nero standing beside him and smiled awkwardly when he gave him a 'Hurry it up' look.

"If you really want someone to help you then ask Shion." The girl on the other side of the phone line growled.

"I did. She's offered to help already but..." Night was cut off.

"Then why are you asking me, what's wrong with just taking Shion with you?"

"That's just it, I don't WANT to take her with me." Night huffed a little put off now. "What's the deal with you and your uncle huh? What d'you guys have against Shion?"

"I have nothing against her."

"Then what is it?"

"It's my uncle, he's the one with the problem and as long as he has a problem with her my dad won't let me get involved."

"And since when did what your uncle thinks dictate what your dad does or doesn't do..."

"Since it's my uncle we're talking about?" The two were silent for at least five minutes before Night said anything else.

"McKenndra look, I would take Shion up on her offer but she's not like us. At least you could hold your own, you're half demon like me."

"My dad's the half demon, I'm only a quarter."

"Yeah but still, that's a quarter more than her." McKenndra was silent. "Mac please..."

"Ok ok, I'll do it. But if my uncle gets involved don't be surprised if my father does to." With that said, Mac hung up the phone leaving Night to listen to the dead line.

"I won't..." Night returned the phone to the receiver and turned to his friend standing beside him.

"So what'd she say?" Nero asked curious about the hour long conversation.

"She'll do it, but she said not to be surprised if her uncle and father get involved." He replied.

"Should we be concerned about either of them?" Lady inquired from Dante's desk. Night simply shook his head.

"No they won't be a problem... At least as long as you don't give them a reason to be one." Night messed his hair up a little frustrated with everything.

"So, now that you've racked up an hours' worth of time on my phone you think you could tell me what you know about yourself or find someone who does?" Dante demanded sitting up straight in his chair with an equally frustrated look plastered on his face.

"Yeah, I'll go get Shion and bring her back here." Night stood up and headed for the door.

"Oh no you don't." Dante got up and glided to the door stopping his younger brother in his tracks. "Forget it, I'm goin with you."

"Ok...?"

"Ok, then let's go." Dante opened the door and ushered Night outside.

"Dante!" Nero called as he darted out the door after him, Lady not far behind. "You can't FORCE him to go."

"Sure I can Kid, I'm doin it right now." Dante replied with a grin still keeping a firm grip on Night's arm.

"Just because you can it doesn't mean you should..."

"It's not gonna kill him if someone's a little forceful with him Nero..."

"You're hurting me..." Night muttered clearly unimpressed with the situation at hand. The small group stopped and looked to the younger half devil standing there with a look of utter displeasure plastered on his face.

"See...?" Nero growled. "Now let him go and we'll all go find her so you can get your information and leave him be about it..."

* * *

"I already told you I don't have it..." Shion spat as she walked about the Panther picking up the glasses, bottles and plates the customers from the night had left behind on their tables at closing. A loud deep-throated demonic growl followed behind her from a rather displeased dark haired man.

"If you don't have it then WHERE is it Shion?" He growled angrily. Shion set the tray on the bar for Tito to wash and span around looking the tall man in the eyes. If she weren't as hot tempered as she was she was sure his ice cold eyes would have frozen the very blood in her veins simply by looking at him.

"The blue of your eyes really shows the ice in your veins..." She replied, hands folded across her chest. The demon pinched the bridge of his nose and grit his teeth growling again. The blood that ran down his jaw line was as dark as the hair on his head and blended in with the leather jacket and t-shirt on his shoulders.

"I'm in no mood for your games woman, TELL me where it is before I start breaking things."

"Is that a threat?" Shion jumped a bit when the man slammed his hand down on the black marble top of the bar shattering it on impact before leaning closer to her looking her right in the eyes.

"Would you like it to be?" The two were silent, eerily silent as the stared each other down. Had it not been for Tito speaking up the two of them probably would have continued all night.

"Alright, if you're going to start breaking my property take this outside. I don't care if you're a king where you come from in here I am the only king, got it?" He scolded pointing a fork at the tall man. The demon merely looked to Tito out of the corner of his eyes chilling the room with his glare.

"I'll be paying you a visit in three days Shion. Three days." He stood up straight, wiped the blood from his face and fixed his jacket, turning to the doors and walking away. "If you don't have it by then, you'll pay me in blood." With that said he opened door and disappeared muttering something to a group as he waltzed passed them.

"Asshole..." She growled to herself.

_**One minute before**_

"I'm telling you the bar is closed Dante, just let me go in and get her." Night snapped.

"And I'm telling you I don't care, I'm goin in closed or not." Dante replied.

"Dante." Night grabbed his brothers' hand in an attempt to stop him only to be met with a glare from him. But before Dante could open the door it swung out with enough force to push him back quite a bit.

"Hey, take it easy." He snapped. The tall dark haired man stopped briefly and glared at him, his icy blue eyes sending an all too familiar chill down Dante's spine.

"Don't stand behind the door next time, dumbass." He growled in response as he walked away fuming.

_**Present moment**_

"Huh, what a croc..." Nero muttered as he walked into the bar watching the man walk down the street.

"Yeah, he's always like that..." Night shook his head walking in past Nero and over to the bar his friend sat at.

"You know that guy Night?" Lady asked following behind him taking in the empty space.

"Unfortunately. That guy's a real prick. He's more Shion's problem then he is mine though. I just had unfortunate pleasure of bumping into him a few times when Shion was out of town." Night stopped and looked to Dante still standing in the doorway. "Dante?"

"I know that guy..." He muttered.

"How could you, you saw the guy for all of five seconds." Nero gave Dante a scrutinizing look when the man in red turned his head to the group.

"I know that... Night, d'you know his name perchance?" Before either of the men could respond Shion spoke up.

"His name's Memphis, and he's not someone you should be getting yourself involved with." She lifted her head from the bar and turned herself around in her chair to face everyone. "Hey Lady, Night. Who's your friend?"

"Well you know Nero." Night pointed to his other friend approaching the bar. "He's the guy you met last time I was here."

"Oh right, the Order Knight from Fortuna."Nero nodded when Shion looked to him.

"Yeah." He chuckled to himself. "Night's obviously told you a lot about me."

"I can't get him to shut up sometimes." Shion laughed a little before turning her attention to Dante standing closer to the doors with his arms crossed. "And this is...?"

"I'm Dante." He replied.

"You don't look very impressed."

"I'm just a little curious."

"About...?"

"Night for one, and this Memphis character. I know I've seen him somewhere before I just can't remember where."

"I wouldn't be surprised. You're a half devil right?"

"Yeah that's right. How'd you know?"

"You look too much like Night not to be."

"Heh, well APPARENTLY I'm his older brother so I'm not surprised..." Dante glared at Night a little making the younger half devil rather uncomfortable.

"Oh right right I remember now."

"You knew about Night's relation to Dante?" Lady inquired.

"Well, sorta. I didn't know they were brothers', I just knew they were related." Shion replied. "Lavinia is cryptic so it's hard to get what she's implying half the time."

"Who's Lavinia?" Nero asked knowing all too well Dante was about to.

"Lavinia Conner is Night's mother." Tito interrupted before Shion or Night could reply. "She's a nasty old witch and I wouldn't recommend you go digging in her business."

"Thanks for putting it so delicately _'TwT'_..." Night hung his head clearly embarrassed by his mothers' description.

"Be glad Tito has better things to worry about then how he describes your mother..." Shion gave Night a punch in the arm to finish her sentence. "Anyways what is you wanted to know about Night, Dante?"

"Tch, everything?" Dante shifted his weight and looked his brother up and down. "How about we start with why he's not up on that mountain with his mother?"

"Might be easier to show you if that's what you're interested in." A young woman's voice behind Dante turned everyone's attention to the doorway. "You gonna move buddy?"

"Mac?" Night gaped. "What're you doing here?"

"Move..." Mac growled and shoved Dante out of her way. "Here to help you, remember? Or did you just blank out that hour long phone call we had?"

"No I remember, I didn't think you'd show up here though. How'd you know where we were?"

"I had a feeling I'd find you at the Panther since you mentioned Shion..." Mac glared at her with eyes as blue and seemingly unfeeling as those of Memphis.

"Nice to see you to Mac..." Shion replied with a similar cold stare.

"Come on you two please. Now's not the time..." Night pleaded stepping between the two.

"Hang on a sec Night, who is this chick?" Dante asked stepping up beside his brother and looking Mac over.

"Chick?" She replied. "Chick?" Mac swiftly knocked Dante's feet out from under him and pinned him on the ground sitting on his chest and holding his arms down by the wrist, the snake ring on her left hand digging into his skin. "I'm not a chick, I'm a woman."

Dante couldn't think of anything to say to this kid. He just lay there looking her over in shock. The young girl looked to be about seventeen wearing a tight fitted maroon red t-shirt, a loose black hoodie, a pair of black cargo pants with a thin chain on the right side and a pair of black and red converse. She had short black hair that was a little longer on the left reaching just above her cheekbone styled in a similar fashion to Night's and freckles dotted her pale face. Amidst all that a small round nose ring poked itself out from her left nostril. Beneath the thick black eyeliner she wore were a pair of ice blue eyes not unlike those of Night's or Dante's and even the man that had left the bar moments before their arrival, Memphis.

"Huh..." Was all he muster.

"McKenndra get off him..." Night muttered from under his hand. Before Mac had a chance to reply Dante spoke up.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to the asshole that just walked outta here would yeah McKenndra?"

"It's Mac." She hissed as she leaned closer to him. "And that asshole is my uncle..."


	4. This brings back memories

"You know, I can think of a much easier way to go about this!" Night yelled up the cliff at the group ahead of him. Dante shook his head and looked back at the young half devil trailing behind them.

"We're already half way up the mountain Night, we might as well keep moving." He replied gesturing up the overgrown mountain pass with his hand. Night rolled his eyes, hung his head and sighed at the thought of it all.

"That's my problem..." He muttered as he forced himself to keep going.

"The less you talk the more you'll walk." Mac growled angrily from the head of the group.

"Whooo... She's a fiery one that girl." Dante commented.

"Ha ha Dante..." Nero growled sarcastically from behind him. "Come on Night, try and pick up the pace a little. We want to get there before nightfall."

"No we don't." Night was quick to reply. Everyone slowed their pace and turned to look at the now frantic boy behind them all.

"Why not? It'll be a lot harder to navigate through the woods at night so we need to get to this village before then." Lady stated. Night shook his head almost clean off his shoulders now.

"No no no you do not go up this hill and into that village anywhere NEAR daylight hours. We always go in at night." He explained. The group exchanged confused looks with one another before Dante crossed his arms and responded.

"Alright I'll humour you for a moment here." He grumbled. "Tell me why we don't..."

"We don't because it's not safe. See you don't get it, you don't know this place like I do. EVERYTHING that goes wrong in this place happens during the day because that's when most people would least expect it. You're always on high alert at night, right? But you're more relaxed during the day because you think you're safe because you can use your eyes to see everything before it comes but that's not the case here."

"Whoa whoa ok I'm gonna stop you there Night." Dante held up his hand and slowly walked back down the mountain to where Night stood. "You gotta slow down Kid and.. Try and put this into laymen's terms for us will yea?" Night threw his head back a bit with a loud groan before continuing.

"Ok look. I'll tell you about this be we gotta stop and wait here for nightfall. That's the only way I'm doing any of this, deal?"

"Yeah yeah sure." Dante waved his hand dismissing what Night had said. Night on the other hand was not convinced Dante really understood what he'd said and gave him a scrutinizing looking. "What?"

"Did you even hear a word I just said?"

"Course I did, you won't go any further till dark I got it." Night held out his hand never once letting the look fade from his face. "Oh come on..."

"Not moving till you shake..."

"Fine fine." Dante shook Night's hand then threw his hands up in mock defeat. "We'll camp out here until dark but you gotta uphold you end of the bargain Kid. We sit you spill." Dante spat as he turned around and walked up ahead a little to a fallen tree to sit down, everyone else following suit.

"That was the plan..."

* * *

"Hmm... Well either she's a REAL good liar or she really doesn't have it..." The demon mused to himself, his red eyes flickering with amusement at the group.

"Is this REALLY what you do in your spare time Summit...?" The other demon said flatly, clearly unimpressed with his silver haired companion.

"Hmm?" Summit turned his head to the other a little confused. "Is what really what I do in my spare time?"

"Stalk people? More notably her?" The darker haired demon pointed to the young brown haired woman in the group.

"Pff... No. I'm stalking her for a reason. Silly Lucien." Summit snickered.

"It's FIN Summit..." Fin rolled his eyes and ran his hand over his face in frustration. "At least you were honest about the stalking part... But why Shion?"

"Because Memphis wants his necklace back."

"Well he knows he can't just TAKE it from her."

"Yeah but she says she doesn't have it."

"That's not good."

"Uh-huh, but if she DOES have it she's lying to him for a reason and I have to find out what that is."

"That's not good either..." Fin shook his head once again rolling his eyes as he looked to the group below them. "Why would he send you when he could easily do this on his own? It's not like he hasn't thrown his paper work at his brothers before..."

"It has something to do with the Sparda boys I think." Summit pointed to the red clad man and the younger dark haired boy standing in front of him. "That and I don't think he wants Cruesoe to know about what he's doing especially since Mac's here." Fin took in the scene as Summit spoke. He knew that Memphis had a million and one excuses for not having his memories of what happened with Dante and the others wiped but now that they were involved again it posed a real problem. If any of them started to remember anything the higher ups would be all over them and it would fall to him and the bat tribe to keep the peace, which isn't a very easy thing to do with them breathing down his neck.

"When did he come into the picture?" Fin asked pointing to the younger dark haired boy.

"Who Night?"

"Is that his name? Honestly I keep forgetting..." Summit laughed a little to himself. "Summit..."

"Yeah yeah his name is Night. Uhh anyway to answer your question brother." Summit paused and looked up to the leaves of the trees for a moment lost in thought before continuing. "I'd say no more than a couple of hours ago? Give or take a few..."

"What are they doing on this mountain?"

"Geeze you ask a lot of questions..."

"Summit. This is important damn it now stop it!"

"Fine fine." Summit mused, blowing the blue tinged side of his hair out of his face. "They're going to see that crazy old bat that lives near the top."

"Lavinia?"

"Yeah that one."

"Does he know?"

"Does who know?"

"Uhhhh..." Fin sighed growing even more frustrated with his brother. "Summit."

"Ok ok I'm sorry. No I don't think he knows yet, but there's another problem."

"What?"

"Remember when I said there was a problem in purgatory?"

"Yes... What about it?" Fin wasn't happy to hear Summit bring up purgatory now of all times and it showed. He already knew the only thing he could say next and it meant there was a lot more to worry about than just the witch up the mountain, Memphis and Shion and the demon in Night.

"Well... I'm sure you can already guess what happened there."

"Yes Summit, now get to the point please..."

"He's out..."

"And?"

"He's here?"

"Here as in the human world or..?"

"No I mean here as in on this mountain here..." The two demon brothers were silent. Fin moved like he was about to punch Summit who flinched out of anticipation of being hit but Fin stopped himself instead choosing to point frustratingly at him.

"Don't you think you could have told me this BEFORE we came here?" Fin hissed in a whispering tone to keep the group below from hearing them. Summit grinned sheepishly holding up his hands in mock defence.

"I knew you wouldn't have come with me if you knew..."

"You're damn right I wouldn't have." Fin glared at Summit making his right eye glow a little. "Oooo, Summit you make me so angry sometimes."

"Heh, I thought that's what brothers were for."

"Knock it off... We have more important things to be focusing on now so shut up and pay attention..." Fin clasped his hand over Summit's mouth to prevent him from replying and turned his attention to the group below them again, his heterochromic eyes completely fixated on them and their surroundings just waiting for something to go wrong. If his assumptions were correct, things would start heating up just before dusk...

* * *

"So..." Night sighed trying to catch his breath. "My point is it's just not safe here if you don't know the area well enough."

"That's great Kid, now." Dante rest his forearms on his knees. "Think you could say that again? In English this time?"

"Dante come on." Nero barked. "You're really going to make him repeat ALL of that again?"

"Well I'm just trying to understand it that's all." Dante replied with a grin.

"No what you're trying to do is what you always do..." Lady shook her head, arms folded firmly across her chest. Dante just chuckled to himself over it all.

"Ughh, ok seriously. Are we REALLY going to sit here until it gets dark?" Mac growled getting up from an old stump.

"Chill Mac, it's only for a couple more hours then we'll be on our way..." Shion said eyes focused completely on the tree tops above them.

"Ok, that may not matter to you but I actually have to worry about people following me."

"Then why'd you come?"

"For Night obviously."

"Really? This, this is what we're doing until we get moving again?" Night intersected holding his arms out gesturing to both McKenndra and Shion. Before any of them could respond a crack echoed through the brush making the group stop everything.

"What was that?" Nero asked looking in the direction of the cracking. No one made a sound as they cautiously surveyed their surroundings trying to pinpoint the source of the noise.

"See? SEE? I told you, this place is DANGEROUS during the day!" Night whisper yelled at everyone, spinning around like a top when another equally loud crack echoed from behind him.

"Calm down will yea?" Dante replied looking every which way he could. "It's probably just a bear or something."

"A BEAR? Do you know what a full grown bear can do to someone? Huh? DO YOU?"

"Night calm down."

"No I will not calm down." Night messed his hair up out of sheer frustration again before continuing. "I told you this was a bad idea, I TOLD you I didn't want to come up here I told you-.." Before Night could finish his sentence an even louder crack behind McKenndra and Shion cut him off silencing him.

"Ok that was a little freaky..." Shion commented after a moment had passed.

"Yea think?" Mac added. Just as Shion turned to glare at Mac something made Night jump nearly five feet in the air screaming.

"AHHHH!" Night span around and landed on his back with a harsh thud. The group all turned to see the younger half devil on the ground staring up at a tall silver/blue haired man with crimson eyes laughing hysterically. "God damn it! You scared the hell out of me!" Night kicked the man in the leg angrily. "Asshole!"

"Hahahaha, I'm sorry! I just couldn't help myself you looked so freaked out!" The man laughed, hand flattened against his face trying to wipe the streams of salty tears from his eyes. Night just growled demonically to the best of his abilities since he hadn't quite figured that part of himself out yet and rolled over to stand up quite put off.

"Oh yeah that's the PERFECT time to sneak up on someone Summit. I hate you, you know that?"

"Ahh..." Summit finally managed to calm down and wiped the last of the tears from his face. "Oh come on it was all in good fun Night." Summit grabbed his arm and pulled Night to his feet with a grin.

"Fun? FUN? Is that what you do for fun in your world cause if that's what you're doing down there I want no part of it." Night looked away from Summit as quickly as his neck would let him turn his head, a completely freaked out look plastered all over his face.

"Uhh..." Was all Dante managed to say. He exchanged an equally confused look with Nero before continuing. "Say uh, Night. You mind filling us in here buddy?"

"Hmm?" Night looked to Dante. "Fill you in on what?"

"Uh, how about who the heck this guy is?" Dante pointed to Summit. Night looked back at the man behind him and pointed looking back at Dante.

"Who him? He's-..." Before Night could finish his sentence another voice caught their attention from the trees.

"He's not important at the moment..." The man hanging from a branch above them called, the branch tucked firmly in the crook of his knees.

"What is it with you two? Why do you always pop up wherever Shion and I happen to be?" Night growled pointing at himself then the man in the tree.

"Since when am I not important Lucien?" Summit added making a pouty face at him.

"How many times must I tell you it's Fin Summit. FIN." Fin's eye twitched and he let himself fall, quickly flipping over onto his feet and landing without ever unfolding his arms.

"Yeah yeah whatever..." Summit waved his hand in the air dismissing the comment. Fin just glared at him angrily tapping his finger against his forearm.

"Hello? Excuse me did either of you hear a word I said? No?" Night interrupted the feuding brothers.

"No I heard you Night." Fin replied, a stoic look now gracing his features.

"Hey there scuse me." Dante intersected walking up beside Night. "There something we're all missing here?" Before Dante could get his answer Shion whacked both Fin and Summit in the head causing the both of them to cry out.

"Just ignore these two morons..." Shion said shaking her fist at them. "They're demons but they're harmless, unless idiocy is a crime..."

"I wish you wouldn't do that..." Fin muttered.

"I resent that..." Summit muttered in a similar tone rubbing his head.

"Then WHY are you following me again eh?"

"We're not following you..." Fin replied.

"Liar."

"No he's telling the truth Shion." Summit interrupted. "We're not following you. We're stalking you AND Night, see?" Summit grinned like a fool when Fin growled a him.

"Stalking us?" Night more stated then asked. "Why?"

"Shoosh." Fin clasped his hands over Summit's mouth before he could speak. "Actually we're here on official business. There's been a... PROBLEM, so to speak."

"What kind of problem?" Shion asked.

"Say hang on sec." Dante interrupted again. Summit stopped struggling for a moment and looked up at Fin who sighed already realizing what was coming. "I know you two..."

"Yeah now that you mention it... They do look kinda familiar." Nero added.

"You know these two Fin?" Shion asked nodding her head in Dante and Nero's direction.

"No w-..." Summit cut Fin off finally having squirmed his mouth loose of his brothers grip.

"Yeah we know them but they don't remember anything." He said with a grin.

"SUMMIT!" Fin howled.

"Heh, oops..."

"Oook?" Dante looked at the both of them carefully trying to understand what the two demons were talking about. But just as he opened his mouth to speak yet another voice cut him off.

"Idiot, they weren't supposed to know about us again." The voice growled. "Think maybe you could actually TRY thinking about what you're saying next time?" Dante slowly turned around to face the dark haired man behind him. He knew he recognized the two demons in front of him and the man's voice, but it was only now that he was starting to remember from where.

"Oh boy..."


	5. An ancient evil returns

"Are you deaf or just really that stupid? This is a one woman show, got it? Now hit the road." Her tone was fierce and her gaze was fiercer. The heat boiling in those green eyes of hers stung the men before her just as harshly as her signature drink would.

"Come on honey; just let us in to see your boss. We can change his mind I'm sure!" One stammered.

"Yeah, and we've got plenty of insider dirt on The Panther to!" The other added.

"I don't care whose dirt you've got, you try pulling this stunt again and I'll kick you where it hurts!" The woman replied again as her hands folded firmly across her chest, her long black hair bobbing ever so slightly with the effort though it settled back in place over her left eye again.

"Lady come ON, give us a little sympathy here! The woman over there is a God damn tyrant and that nut job at The Panther is doin anything about her!" The first one complained.

"Good! It means she's got some fight. Honestly I'd have kicked your asses to the curb the first night if you worked for me." The woman shifted her weight to her other foot now. "It's about time she got rid of you. You're lucky she kept you around for as long as she did."

"Pft, that woman kicking US to the curb? Don't make me laugh."

"Yeah. She'd need to grow some balls first, THEN maybe she could kick us out." The man added again.

"Grow some balls you say?" That was it. As much as she didn't care about the reputation The Blank Panther had, she wasn't about to let some bigot dinosaur like him talk down a fellow female bouncer like that. With one swift movement she leapt into the air and her right foot collided with the side of the first man's head sending him right into the other and out the doors of The Crimson Flame onto the streets. Kicking the doors open she followed and placed her hands on her hips, an irate glare etched in her green orbs as she continued. "Forget balls. Balls are weak. Why don't you try growing a vagina before you come back here, those things take a pounding." The two men were dumbfounded and just lay there watching as the woman turned around and walked back into the bar quite pleased with herself.

"Azera, everything alright?" The man behind the counter inquired as Azera took to gathering up the glasses at the first table she came to. She turned her head to face the owner of The Flame and smiled.

"Yep, everything's fine! Just taking out the trash is all." She laughed when the man rolled his eyes with a grin and went back to work, Azera not far behind him.

As she made her way around the establishment her mind wandered off to this other bouncer at The Panther the men were talking about. "Another female bouncer huh?" She mused. "Guess I better pay The Blank Panther a little visit soon."

-

"HA! See I KNEW I knew you!" Dante exclaimed pointing at Summit and Fin. "And you, whoo boy do I EVER know you." He chuckled pointing at the tall dark haired man behind him.

"Shut up half breed. You weren't supposed to remember any of this in the first place." The dark haired man growled.

"Hey come on Tennessee that hurts." Dante laughed as the old familiar snarl appeared on the man's face.

"MEMPHIS." Memphis spat and stalked over to the snickering white haired demon behind Dante. "And YOU." He smacked Summit in the head with an audible _thwack!_ making the demon yelp. "YOU are the cause of all this. You can't ever keep your damn mouth shut can you Summit!"

"Oh come on King~!" Summit started with a grin. "They were bound to remember at some point, besides that." Summit's grin turned mischievous as he paused for effect. "You're REALLY one to talk mister 'I'm too busy to attend the meetings for me and my troops to have our memories erased'! You really pissed Tony off I tell yea~!"

"Oh shut up. So I avoided Murruk and Galadriel like the plague, be freaking deal." Memphis retorted. "It's not like they couldn't have just sent someone after me if they REALLY wanted my memories of all that erased."

"Honestly Memphis, you made such a big deal about finding Vergil and Dante so you could have their memories erased and yet when it came to YOU, you were never there when anyone showed up to do it." Fin sighed exasperated, a hand placed firmly over his eyes. "I'm starting to wonder if they didn't just GIVE UP verses letting you keep them as a reminder of your mistake."

"Eh, whatever." Memphis shrugged. "Makes no difference to me why they let me keep them, I don't really care either way..."

"Pfft, sure Memphis." Dante sniggered. "That's why you were never there when anyone showed up. I'm willing to bet that if someone showed up do it now you'd still take off!"

"Really Memphis, you're a real hypocrite. You made it sound like if we didn't comply and let you erase our memories that there were some serious or deadly consequences to be had." Nero added, now fully aware of who Memphis was again. Memphis stood there with his arms crossed, a look of utter displeasure and agitation plastered on his face. He looked back and forth between the group before finally letting his gaze fall to his niece McKenndra and Night.

"Getting off topic." He started. "When did Night come into the picture?" He said fixing his gaze to the awkward half breed.

"What?" Night asked a little perplexed looking around. "Who me?"

"Yeah you kid." Memphis growled deep in his throat. "When did you find Dante and Nero?"

"Uhh..." Night wasn't sure how to answer him. He knew that Memphis already knew about his connection to Shion and Mac so he had just assumed he knew about Nero. "Well I..."

"Well what? Speak up kid I don't have all day!"

"You need to loosen that belt of yours Memphis." Shion snapped giving Memphis a hard jab in the ribs. "It's starting to affect your personality." She stepped between the demon king and Night, arms crossed firmly across her chest. "What could you possibly have to do on this mountain that's SOOOO important to you, you can't even wait for Night to feel a little more comfortable around you?"

"I don't have the time to deal with you right now woman..." Memphis grits his teeth pinching the bridge of his nose. "Night, I need an answer. TODAY preferably."

-

Not far off from where the demon king and the half breed hunters stood on the mountain a sinister air began snaking its way down the cliffs. In the midst of the fog rolling itself across the terrain a pair of glacier blue eyes watched the scene with a cold, emotionless haze over them. The man the eyes were attached to trailed them down to his feet and the fog now licking his ankles with an unfeeling, lingering gaze.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in the human world. Then again, he couldn't really remember the last time he'd been out of purgatory let alone been here in the realm of mortals. It was an odd feeling really. He'd become so used to the unnatural shifts in gravity, the stank rot of the putrid air that threatened to strangle even the strongest of beasts with its thick, hot and humid stench. All these things he'd become so accustomed to in purgatory made even the confines of a coffin six feet in the ground feel more appealing to him then spending one more century locked away in that place.

As he shifted his gaze from the ground to the sky his head tilted back, the handful of his shoulder length black hair that was free from the ponytail near the base of his neck nestling itself in new locations around his face and the steel mask covering the lower half of it. With one of his large hands he shielded his eyes from the fleeting ray of sun that broke through the trees before it vanished with the new ominous clouds that took over the sky.

No sooner had the clouds taken root did the sky start to weep heavily. The man ran his hand along his bare broad shoulders, wiping at the rain almost like he was studying what it did to his skin as he let his hand follow a trail of droplets down his bare muscular arm. His hand eventually found what was left of an old dark brown shirt around his waist caught in his belt, the remains leaving his thick muscled torso exposed.

The belt itself was in serious need of a replacement; the century's old black leather was worn and cracked much like the dark brown of his leather boots. In fact, the only thing he noticed DIDN'T need to be addressed were his pants, much to his surprise. The most damage the black leather of his pants had were a bit of wear, a slight tear in the upper right leg that exposed a small amount of his flesh and a bit of stretching that made them fit his body loosely now.

His mind wandered from his attire back the rain. He held his hands palms up at waist level and looked them over curiously. When was the last time he stood in the rain like this? Four, maybe five centuries ago he gathered, but he couldn't really be certain. By the end of the fourth he stopped keeping track. Had it really been that long since he felt the rain? Looking back to the sky he felt his demonic power surge through his body. This sudden shift in the climate of the mountain was his fault, that he knew without a doubt. His power was more than what the mortal realm could handle was what he had been told. Whether he cared or not though was uncertain as nothing could be read from his eyes or body language.

In fact, he didn't even move a muscle to breathe until he heard the thunderous footsteps of a small group of people running past the rocks he stood upon. Slowly he veered his head in their direction eyeing them closely as a few he recognized came into view. How many of them did he know? Two, perhaps even three? No, two for sure he recognized without a doubt. The other though he wasn't quite sure. This gave him enough motivation to ease off the rocks and follow in an almost painfully slow pursuit.

The slowness, of course, done with much purpose.

-

"God damn it!" Dante growled as he ducked under the branch of a tree. "Where the hell did all this rain come from all of a sudden?"

"I don't get it." Nero huffed peeking out from under the safety of his branch. "The sky was clear just a second ago. And where is all this fog coming from?"

"And why the hell is it so God damn hot now?" Night added standing in the rain with his hood up looking around a little paranoid as always. The later elicited a small chuckle from Lady and Mac standing under the branches to Night's right.

"Who the hell cares!" Memphis snapped, his black leather coat pulled up over his head as he walked up casually beside the startled Night. "Why are you all complaining as much as you are? It's annoying the crap outta me."

"Well EXCUSE us!" Shion growled in response. "I didn't realise we were in the presence of such divinity that we weren't even allowed to complain about the weather." Before Memphis could retort Fin and Summit came scampering after everyone.

"Wow that really came down pretty quick eh?" Summit commented looking around seemingly unfazed by the rain as it soaked him to the bones. Fin just sighed pulling the hood of his cloak down as he stood under a tree like most of the others.

"This isn't something to be excited about Summit." Fin hissed dryly. "Someone is causing a breakdown in the balance of this world which is causing the rain, fog and heat all of a sudden. I wouldn't be surprised if it started to snow later."

"What do you mean someone's causing this?" Lady inquired suddenly very interested in what the bat demon had to say.

"He means there's a very powerful demon around here." A female's voice called from behind Fin and Summit, the later turning to face their new company. Both Shion and Mac groaned to themselves before they even saw Trish stop beside Fin and look him the eyes to the best of her abilities. "Am I right?"

"Yes. I'm putting the assumption that it is a demon causing this out there because of a few things. One being that I can't see a mortal human being capable of such a disturbance in the balance like this and two because my WONDERFUL brother over there." Fin gave Summit an intense glare making him turn his head away with an awkward smile. "Was so kind as to inform me of a rogues recent escape from our world."

"Someone from your world escaped to ours?" Night questioned looking less than impressed with the news.

"That's right. It appears he managed to find his way out and is now hiding somewhere around in this area." Fin replied. "That is the main reason Summit and I are here."

"Not this mountain though, right? Please tell me this thing isn't on this mountain Fin..."

"He may very well be. Sources tell us this is the area he's most likely to be found."

"Oh for the love of GOD!" Night threw his hands in the air exasperated. "GREAT! Now not only do I get to deal with what's already on this mountain, I get to deal with my mother AND some renegade escapee from your world! This day just couldn't get any better!" He spat sarcastically. The group was sure he was going to continue when he plopped himself down on a rock when Memphis spoke up again.

"Why am I just finding out about this?" He sneered.

"It was too early to tell if this was to be a Western problem or not." Fin retorted.

"I don't care if this was ever intended to be and Eastern problem OR a Western problem Lucien." Memphis harped. "I'm a King. I shouldn't be the last to found out about an escape from our world!"

"Well I'm telling you now so you can stop with the hostility."

"Who was it that escaped?"

"No one you need to concern yourself about."

"Fine. Where did they escape from?" Memphis snorted when Fin didn't reply. "WHERE Lucien?"

"Purgatory." Came his reply. Memphis froze, his eyes wide with the realization of who Fin was referring to. There was only one person locked away in purgatory with enough power to escape it. He just didn't know if he wanted to believe it.

"C...Ceirek is out?" He finally managed to stutter. Dante, Nero and Mac all shifted nervously when they saw the demon king visibly shake. "Why Lucien, WHY wouldn't you tell me Ceirek had escaped?"

"Because I knew how you would react Memphis." Fin spat. "Huhhhh, I KNEW you shouldn't have found out about this."

"Then why did you tell him?" Dante more stated then asked.

"It would have been far worse for him to find out from someone else and even worse." Fin stopped to look around for a second. "Even worse if he actually ran into him on his own."

"Who's Ceirek anyway Uncle Mem?" Mac asked her uncle, taking a seat next to Night.

"Ceirek... He's uhh..." Memphis wasn't sure what to say to her. He knew full well who that man was but, he'd never actually met him. He'd been locked away in purgatory his entire life and most of his parents life as he understood it. Memphis looked back to his niece sitting patiently beside her friend then to everyone else watching him, waiting for his answer. But just as he opened his mouth to speak someone else beat him to the punch.

"I do believe, now correct me if I'm wrong Lucien but." The males' voice stopped briefly. "Judging by his appearance, I am his Grandfather..." The whole group with the exception of Memphis whipped their heads up to the small cliff looming over them to chance a glance at the man, Ceirek, perched atop them. His eyes and hair were almost a mirror image of the demon king frozen in place before him though he had a few good inches of height over Memphis and probably a few pounds to. The steel mask covering the lower half of his face brought the memories of their fight with Memphis's father Jesileth back to Dante and Nero and they instinctually backed away from him. "Of course I don't mean to cut you off my son. Please, do continue." Ceirek motioned with his hand when Memphis slowly turned his head to look at him over his shoulder with a look between shock and terror etched in his eyes. Ceirek's voice was deep and ominous sending shivers down everyone's spine and chilling the air around them.

"This shit just got heavy..."


	6. Curiosity

"DAMN YOU!" The half blood howled as he launched the cylinder in his hand across the courtyard. He grit his teeth and began pacing back and forth angrily muttering to himself. "WHY isn't this working?! Is there something missing!?" He stopped and glared at the metallic cylinder lying on the ground a few feet away from him and thought long and hard. Why couldn't he open it? He knew the spell binding it shut and how to break it so why wasn't it working?

_"Vergil, until you can learn to strike a balance within yourself you will never have the power you so deeply desire..."_

Those words painted themselves on Vergil's memories fueling the fires of his rage even further.

"Even YOU won't be able to keep me from what is rightfully mine..." Vergil growled to himself as he stalked over to the cylinder containing said power and picked it up as the first few frozen snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Slowly Vergil tilted his head skyward and started hatching a new plan, one that he hoped would lead to what he desired so much. "Perhaps I should pay my... DEAR little brothers a visit. I could use some target practice..."

And silently the Dark Slayer stalked off into the snow towards the lazy city...

-

"Huh, you weren't kidding Fin..." Night commented as he stared at the white flakes falling gracefully from the sky.

"Who cares if it's snowing! I wanna know just what the hell is going on here between YOU two." Dante growled pointing to Memphis and Ceirek sitting on opposite sides of the room; the later paying no heed to the older son of Sparda in the room. Ceirek's attention was far too focused on the young cowardly boy at the window doing his best to distract himself with the snow.

"That will come in due time my boy..." Ceirek muttered, his emotionless eyes fixated intently on Night.

"That's nice..." Dante waved his hand dismissing Ceirek's comment. "Now are you gonna stop watching my little brother long enough to talk or should I ask your GRANDSON why you decided to kick our asses?" With those last few words leaving Dante's mouth Ceirek finally shifted his attention to the white haired man behind the desk; a deep seeded glare etched on his features resembling so much of his father Sparda. As he looked into Dante's eyes his mind wandered to their brief encounter in the mountain forest...

_"This shit just got heavy..." Summit muttered as he watched the demons unwavering figure._

"C...Ceirek?!" Fin gaped in awe, his eyes wide with disbelief and dread. Ceirek slowly tilted his head to the side, his eyes never once betraying his emotionless state.

"Lucien, you're looking well..." He stated simply. "Though I can't help but notice something rather... DIFFERENT, about you..." His voice sent a chill up Fin's spine as it seeped out of the mask covering his mouth.

"W... Wait, THIS the guy you were talking about? The demon that escaped?" Night asked in a shaky voice.

"Dumbass, weren't you paying attention?! Fin already said that!" Mac growled punching Night in the shoulder making the half demon yelp.

"Oh my..." Ceirek peeked over Memphis to glance at Mac standing behind him with Night quite curiously; the curiosity the first thing to show in his icy eyes. "Memphis my son, tell me. Are these ones yours?"

"No..." Memphis replied in a low tone. "Neither of them are mine. The girl is my niece; the boy is Sparda's..."

"A son of Sparda you say? Well now, that is something..." Ceirek shifted his weight and rest his arms on his knees as he took to looking Night over with such interest, unnerving the young half demon making him fidget uncomfortably. "He seems awfully cowardly to be a son of Sparda's..."

"Hey, let's get something straight here." Dante suddenly cut in. "The only one that's gonna be bothering Night about being such a coward is me, got it Gramps?"

"And who might you be my son?" Ceirek questioned as his eyes trailed slowly to Dante.

"Name's Dante; I'm Night's older brother." Again with the words that left his mouth Ceirek's interest peeked and he looked Dante up and down.

"Now that's a LITTLE better." He said narrowing his eyes. "Tell me Dante, you wouldn't happen to be Vergil's younger brother would you?" He asked with disturbing interest.

"I'm his younger twin yeah. Why, you know him?"

"Not intimately no, but I've seen his struggles as of late..."

"You've seen Vergil?" Dante's voice betrayed him with the concern he heard in his tone and he mentally cursed himself for it.

"ENOUGH!" Memphis suddenly burst out trying to hide his own discomfort. "Why don't you start answering a few questions yourself Ceirek, like how you got out of purgatory for instance..." Ceirek was deadly silent now, his eyes trailing from one person to the next with eerie precision.

"Great job King way to piss him off!" Shion growled at the demon king but before Memphis could even think to turn and retort Ceirek was off the cliff and in front of him, startling the king and forcing him to take a few steps back.

"A human, so brazen as to speak to a demon of your caliber in such a manner? Now that is interesting indeed..." The rogue hissed. Memphis looked up into his grandfathers' eyes to search for any sign of what was to come but found nothing, not even when he felt Ceirek's foot planted firmly in his chest sending him flying backwards through the trunk of a tree behind him.

"MEMPHIS!" Fin shouted and ran to his side.

"Is he alright?!" Lady called from the safety of the tree she stood under.

"I didn't even see him move!" Nero said stunned as his eyes fell on the downed king.

"Check his chest and make sure his co-..." Before Shion could finish her thought Ceirek had his hand wrapped firmly around her throat, lifting her off the ground a good four feet and ceasing any and all vocalization from the female.

"Let her go!" Mac warned holding a pistol aimed right for Ceirek's head.

"Of course." Ceirek replied in the same calm tone and he whipped the human straight into Mac sending both the woman flying backwards and skidding across the ground.

"Mac! Shion!" Night gasped and moved to help his friends.

"Ah ah ah, not you my son." Ceirek cooed as he stepped to the side preventing Night from proceeding. Night sheepishly glanced around before backing up and pulling out a silver revolver much like Nero's Blue Rose and aiming it at Ceirek.

"D-Don't come any closer! I-I mean it!" Night stammered, his shaking hand making the revolver chatter noisily.

"Why are you so afraid my son?" Ceirek inquired with little regard for the gun aimed in his direction.

"I-I'm not afraid..." Night retorted quickly. He instinctively backed up again as the rogue began pacing towards him and jumped the moment he heard Dante's pistols fire off a few rounds halting Ceirek in his tracks.

"Not another move..." Dante growled, Ebony and Ivory poised and ready for battle. "If you're looking to play then I've got some time to kill." Ceirek froze, the only movement coming from his eyes as he watched Dante step between him and Night.

"You both seem so... VASTLY different for the both of you to be Sparda's boys..." Ceirek commented once again with little regard for his own safety as he began to pace slowly towards them once more. "Dante YOU seem so bold, so strong, so brave and yet, your little brother..." The rogues' eyes snaked to the boy behind Dante. "Is so... Cowardly, timid and unsure of everything and everyone around him." Ceirek stopped. "Even himself..." Again the man's icy eyes found their way to Dante's. "You're absolutely sure he's your brother?" When Dante didn't respond Ceirek's fist found its way into the hunters gut making Dante drop his pistols and wrap his arms around himself for a brief moment before Ceirek's foot was in the side of his head.

"Dante!" Nero shouted and whipped his head towards Ceirek. "Hey jackass! Why don't you stop playing games with us and tell us what the hell it is you want?!" With a growl Nero lunged forward and slammed Ceirek back into the cliff with his Devil Bringer where he then held the man in place with every ounce of strength he could muster from within himself.

"Hold him tight kid." Dante sneered with a vengeance but before he could do anything both he and Nero found themselves on their backs five feet from where Ceirek stood before the cliff.

"Guess attacking him one at a time isn't the best way to do this..." Memphis muttered as Fin, Summit, Lady and Trish helped him sit up.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Trish asked as she looked from Memphis to Ceirek.

"Tch, the hell do you think?" Memphis spat back. "Attack him all at once!" Before waiting for anyone else Memphis leapt from his spot on the ground and practically threw himself into his grandfather.

"Guess we should join him..." Fin muttered in disdain but charged into the fray none the less with Summit, Shion, Lady, Trish and Dante not far behind him. Night, Mac and Nero however remained on the outskirts of the fight.

"Night come ON! You can't just stand there like that!" Mac howled. "Stop being such a pussy and fight!"

"But what can I do against a guy like that! LOOK at him!" Night shouted pointing at the rogue. "He's built like a tank!"

"God you're such a wimp!" Mac threw her hands up in defeat and drew her pistol once more. "Fine, I'LL go!" And with that she was gone. Night stood there watching as his friends and brother fought seemingly to no avail against the rogue demon but was hesitant to jump in and aid them.

"Night, what's gotten into you? Why won't you fight?" Nero asked startling the boy out of his thoughts, his voice sounding a little harder than he meant it to.

"I..." Night paused and looked to the ground before looking Nero in the eye. "I'm scared?"

"Why are you phrasing it like a question?"

"I don't know." Night shook his head. "Look, you and Dante are a lot better at this than I am. I just think I'd be in the way..."

"You're never going to get better at this if you don't stand up and fight Night now stop it and let's go!" Nero grabbed Night's arm and pulled him into the battle ignoring the boys' protests.

"So you're ALL intending to fight me now is that right?" Ceirek asked eyeing them all as they surrounded him and Memphis locked in their struggled.

"That was the plan." Fin stated as his sword materialized out of the black smoke swirling around his hands.

"I see..." Ceirek moved his eyes from one figure to the next as the air around the group started to chill leaving frost eating away at the once rain covered leaves. "Well in that case." Ceirek shoved Memphis back making the king stumble backwards a bit with a deep throated growl as he joined the others ready to fight. "Come, show me what I've missed in those long years in purgatory..."

"HEY!" Memphis's sudden shouting and clapping in his face broke Ceirek's train of thought bringing the rogue's attention to his grandson. "Did you hear a word ANY of us just said?"

"No I'm afraid not my son." Ceirek replied nonchalantly causing the demon king to sigh exasperated.

"I give up!" He howled throwing his hands up in defeat as he strode back to Dante's couch.

"Anyways..." Nero interrupted. "You never did answer our question Ceirek."

"And what question was this Nero?" The rogue inquired turning his attention to the young knight of the Order.

"How did you get out?"

"Of purgatory?"

"Where ever it was you were confined..."

"I didn't escape."

"Hang on a sec, what d'you mean you DIDN'T escape?" Summit cut in. "You're here aren't you?"

"Yes, and?" Ceirek replied with little to no emotion in his tone.

"How else could you be HERE if you didn't escape?" Trish more stated than asked, her arms folded firmly across her chest.

"I think I'm repeating myself when I say this but I didn't escape..." Ceirek repeated.

"Then HOW are you here?" Memphis growled from his spot on the couch, his face fixed into a fierce glare.

"I was let out." That silenced everyone, their eyes all glued on the ancient demon sitting on Dante's stool by the drum set.

"Wait, LET out?" Lady gaped a little bewildered.

"Who would be so foolish as to let you out of purgatory?" Fin questioned angrily. "As far as I was made aware there was only one person other than myself with the power to break you free from purgatory and he passed months ago thanks to your son."

"Mmmm, you speak of the Dark Knight Sparda no?" Ceirek mused as he shifted in his seat. "I am very aware of what Jesileth did to him. Honestly I'm not surprised he tried to kill him."

"He didn't TRY, he DID." Dante suddenly cut in again. "My father is dead because your son killed him and that's no thanks to your grandson opening the portal in that damn palace!" Dante finished his words off with a loud demonic growl at Memphis but before said king could retort Night spoke up.

"Sparda's dead?" He asked genuinely shocked and catching Dante completely off guard. "W-when did that happen?"

"He died a while ago trying to protect us..." Dante said rather solemnly. He had forgotten that Night wasn't there when his father sacrificed himself for the sake of him, Vergil and Nero during their initial encounter with Jesileth after Memphis brought him through the gate in the Burning Palace and it had only just now occurred to him that Night may never have actually known his father, the Dark Knight. "You never actually met him, did you Night?" He finally asked. Night simply shook his head.

"No, I only know what I was told about him by my mother and those that would come by looking for him..." Night narrowed his eyes at Dante's desk before turning his attention back to the world just outside the window. "I've only ever seen him in that picture I showed you in my locket... I'm not too worried about it though I mean, he's a demon that turned against his own kind. How often do you see one of those?"

"Not very, and maybe that's a good thing." Mac commented as she stood up and stretched. "Night I gotta call quits."

"What? How can you just walk out on him NOW?!" Shion growled from the chair beside Nero.

"I told him that if my family started getting involved that I'd have to leave." Mac hissed in response.

"No what you SAID was you'd have to leave if your uncle got involved."

"What do you call THAT exactly Shion?" Mac pointed to Memphis sitting on the couch.

"... OK fine so your uncle is here. So what! You're his friend, Night needs you!"

"He's got you, Nero and now his brother. I don't think he'd miss me too much." Mac turned around and waltzed to the door but paused to look at Night. "Night, this isn't personal but I can't help you with this anymore. ESPEICALLY if my Great Grandfather is involved. My father wouldn't allow it and I don't want you being blamed for anything that could happen to me."

"You know, CONTRARY to popular belief I wouldn't let anything happen to you McKenndra." Night rebuked which only evoked a sigh from his friend.

"Night let's face it, you're a bit of a coward no matter who or what you're faced with. If things start getting out of control you'll need to focus on protecting YOURSELF and not worrying so much about ME."

"But if I couldn't help you at the time you should be perfectly capable of defending yourself. You're a half demon to."

"No Night, YOU'RE the half demon. I'm only a quarter remember?"

"Oh, right." Night laid his head against his arm on the windowsill and sighed heavily. "Alright well... Promise me you'll at least keep in touch?"

"I will... Keep him out of trouble Shion." When Shion nodded Mac took that as her cue to leave. The office was silent for what felt like forever afterwards and was only broken by Dante's loud and obnoxious yawning.

"So, is there anything you wanted to know about Dad Night?" He asked with no real enthusiasm. He didn't really know what to do or say to him at this point and just wanted to break the awkward silence that had fallen. Night turned to look at him briefly before replying.

"Umm... Not that I can think of really. I might if I thought about it hard enough..." He said.

"You boy's actually BELIEVE your father is dead..." Ceirek commented as he looked between the two sons of Sparda. This earned him a glare from Dante and Nero.

"I don't BELIEVE he's dead, I KNOW he is. I watched him die!" Dante spat.

"Jesileth practically tore his heart out of his chest; I think it's pretty safe to say that he's dead." Nero added.

"You sound so sure of yourselves." Ceirek mused as he tilted his head to the side, eyes never once leaving Dante.

"Are you about done?" Trish asked absolutely unamused.

"With?" Ceirek asked like the topic was suddenly new and foreign to him making Trish sigh and roll her eyes.

"Dante would know whether or not his father is alive." She hissed.

"Is that right? And how do you figure Mrs?"

"He watched him die in his arms." Trish shifted her weight and placed a hand on her hip as she glared at the rogue demon. "Sparda is dead and there's no getting around that." Just before Ceirek could say anymore to the female hunter a cold voice broke the conversation and brought everyone's attention to the blue clad man at the door.

"Is that what you think? Foolish girl..."


	7. Brothers Reunited

_**Bones:**__ I've actually had this chapter up on deviantART since February... I admit, I forgot about when I wrote it and posted it and for that I apologize. Sorry guys n' gals lol BUT, here it is :D I plan on writing a new chapter soon so stay tuned~!_

* * *

Just before Ceirek could say anymore to the female hunter a cold voice broke the conversation and brought everyone's attention to the blue clad man at the door.

"Is that what you think? Foolish girl..." The man said cooly. At the sight of the man at the door Dante threw his head back with a loud groan.

"Oh GREAT!" He moaned. "The hell do you want NOW Vergil..." Vergil simply narrowed his eyes at his younger twin before slowly turning his head to Night at the window.

"Do I really need a reason to pay a visit to my dear brothers?" He said. Dante rolled his eyes at this until he registered that Vergil had said 'brothers'.

"Wait, you knew about Night?"

"I make this family my personal business and since I can guarantee you don't even know the DEFINITION of the word research I took it upon myself to investigate into the rumours myself..."

"What rumours?"

"The rumours of a third son of Sparda..." Vergil slowly walked towards his youngest brother at the window. "You're Night I presume?" He snorted when Night nervously nodded his head. "I figured as much."

"W..What d'you mean?" Night stammered looking up at Vergil's fierce gaze.

"You're as much a coward as I'd anticipated." Vergil then turned his head to Shion and Nero on the couch. "Though it's not unexpected I suppose given your chosen company."

"The hell's THAT supposed to mean?" Nero growled and moved to get up.

"Vergil are you gonna tell me why you're here? I'm assuming you didn't show up just to show me your new scruff and coat." Dante interrupted eyeing the new whiskers and garment on his older twin. He now sported a pair of fingerless black gloves and his coat, although relatively the same as his previous one, sported a slightly different colour scheme. Instead of the blue with the golden interior his coat showcased much more black this time. The interior of the tri tailed coat was black along with the sleeves from the elbow down. The edges were trimmed in black and the collar bore a black buckle that dangled loosely from the neck. What Dante found amusing about it was the fact that the coat still had the same design in white on the front only mirrored on both sides this time.

"My previous coat was destroyed." Vergil replied standing tall and fixing his jacket. "As for the... SCRUFF, as you called it I, simply haven't had the time to shave." Vergil then turned his attention back to Night. "I see you haven't been teaching him much."

"I was supposed to be teaching him?"

"Don't play games with me Dante."

"I'm not but I don't see why I need to teach him anything." Dante shifted his position and eyed everyone else in the room for a moment. "He's a smart kid. He'll figure things out at his own pace."

"His pace is what concerns me." Vergil took to slowly pacing towards his youngest brother and looked him over coldly.

"You mind telling me how you found out about him in the first place Bro?"

"As previously stated Dante I simply investigated the rumours."

"Yeah but WHAT rumours? I don't remember hearing anything about him from anyone until he showed up HERE looking for Nero."

"Umm, y-you know this heartwarming family reunion is nice and all but would somebody mind telling me what's going on here?" Night finally spoke up when Vergil stopped behind him.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with just yet dear brother..." Vergil replied, his hard stare making the young cowardly half devil shrink.

"D-Dante? Should I be concerned about this?"

"Who knows." Dante got up and stretched before waltzing over to where his brothers stood by the window. "Verg, leave him. What're you here for this time? You've got Yamato so that can't be it and I know you didn't feel like stopping by here just to pay me and Night a visit because you felt like it." Dante crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at him. "And I sincerely doubt you're here for the high-strung King and his associates either..."

"I would have been all over him if it weren't for the fact that you two morons remember everything now..." Memphis hissed with a deep seeded glare aimed at both Dante and Nero.

"You never actually got to Vergil did you Memphis...?" Nero said flatly. Memphis just rolled his eyes and sighed loudly before replying.

"No, that bastard can be pretty crafty when he wants to be..." He growled.

"ENOUGH." Vergil suddenly snapped. "Dante, why have you left our brother to flounder on his own?" The question baffled Dante. He wasn't quite sure how to respond nor what his older brother was trying to get at but he knew he didn't like what Vergil was doing.

"Why does it bother you so much?" He asked angrily. Vergil sneered and whipped his head back to Night with a disgusted look on his face.

"You can't tell me that you'd take any pride in calling HIM your brother."

"Hey!" Nero shot up and stormed over to the brothers. "What the hell is your problem Vergil!?"

"My problem is that my youngest brother is such a coward!" Vergil spat back.

"You don't even know him OR what he's been through!"

"It can't be any worse than what Dante and I have been through."

"Then you should have some compassion for him."

"He's bringing shame to our fathers name!" Nero opened his mouth to retort but Vergil's words kept him silent. "His cowardice is embarrassing; it's not befitting of a son of Sparda!"

"And somehow being a power hungry egotistical asshole is?" Dante interrupted.

"Did you three idiots forget that he's standing RIGHT there?" Shion cut in as she trudged over to the half devils, arms crossed firmly across her chest and a fierce glare plastered on her face. "He's not deaf and YOU!" Shion shoved Vergil back a bit earning her a look of slight shock from the Dark Slayer. "How dare you! It's not Night's fault that he's like this."

"And I suppose YOU'RE the expert on this is that right?" Vergil retorted.

"Actually I probably know a lot more about Night than even HE knows." Shion placed her hands on her hips annoyed. "You think he enjoys being so scared all the time? Hmm? Well he doesn't, it embarrasses even HIM sometimes." The female leaned back a bit and narrowed her eyes at Vergil. "You just met him, WHERE do you get off saying something like that to him?"

"As I recall I'm his older brother." Vergil sneered. "And I was only being honest with him."

"You call that honesty? Guess your definition of the word is VASTLY different than mine..."

"Why don't you enlighten me to yours then..." Vergil growled stepping closer to the female.

"STOP." Dante demanded in a raised voice as he stepped between Shion and his brother.

"If you're all done with the sibling argument there's something we need to discuss with you all." Fin's firm voice suddenly cut in. "So if you'll listen, please..." He gestured to the couch. Hesitantly the four of them made their way back to the couch, Night making sure to sit quite a ways away from the angry Vergil.

"What did you need to speak to us about?" Lady inquired taking a seat on the arm of one of the couches. Fin waited until everyone was situated before getting to business.

"As I'm sure you're all aware Ceirek is not supposed to be here." He started as he gestured to the rogue.

"Yeah you made that quite clear back in the forest." Trish interrupted. Fin momentarily glared at Trish before he continued to speak.

"Yes, anyways." He growled. "As it is of the utmost importance to figure out how he managed to escape the confines of purgatory I would implore you all to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."

"Is this because you don't know who let him out?" Nero asked.

"ESPECIALLY since we don't know who let him out. It was already made quite clear that the only people capable of letting Ceirek out of purgatory were myself and Sparda."

"Whom we've already confirmed is dead." Dante muttered half heartedly.

"Again you seem so sure of yourself my son." Ceirek commented on the subject again eliciting a loud groan from Dante.

"HERE we go again." Dante sighed heavily. "Look Gramps we've already been through this. My father, Sparda? He's dead. D.E.A.D. DEAD."

"And what proof do you have of this claim?"

"What proof is needed?" Vergil intersected having grown rather annoyed with the subject. "Our father died on the battle field no thanks to Memphis and his father whom I presume is your son." Ceirek turned his icy eyes to the eldest son of Sparda in the room and studied him carefully before speaking.

"Jesileth is unfortunately my flesh and blood yes. This I admit, but I have a question for you Vergil..." The way Ceirek said his name made Vergil shift uncomfortably. It didn't scare him but he didn't like it none the less and that alone kept him silent. "Did you ever find a body?" That shocked everyone, though Vergil's expression never betrayed him. He considered this very carefully before speaking again.

"You raise a valid point. We never did find his body however." Vergil turned his head to the demon king on the couch not far from him. "We had assumed, or at least I had, that Memphis and his colleagues had disposed of it to cover up the incident that had taken place."

"And you weren't wrong to think so, but I doubt Memphis got to the body in time."

"That true Tennessee?" Dante asked from his desk. "Did you dispose of my father's body?"

"Nope." Memphis replied stretching his hands over his head. "Your father's body was gone by the time Summit and I got back to the ruins of the palace to clean the place up..."

_**Six hours after Jesileth's defeat**_

Memphis and Summit strode back to the scene where the two of them had fought alongside the hunters and sent the king's father Jesileth back to his confinement in the demon world to hide any and all evidence that the event had ever occurred from prying human eyes. As they surveyed the scene and began disposing of the corpses of the downed shadow figures and other demons that had been decimated in the palace Memphis couldn't help but notice something was missing.

"That's odd..." He whipped his head around this way and that trying to figure out what it was that seemed out of place.

"What's odd?" Summit asked as he causally poked at a body with a stick he found.

"Really Summit?" Memphis growled unamused by Summit's antics. Instead of getting worked up about it though he simply rolled his eyes. "Something's not right here..."

"What d'you mean?"

"Something feels like it's... MISSING..." And with his own words it finally hit him. "His body..." Sparda's body was gone. The Dark Knight had fallen in battle when Jesileth threatened the young half demons lives by sacrificing himself to the king's father.

"Whose body?"

"His body should be right here!"

"WHOSE body King?"

"Sparda's." Memphis scrambled his brains trying to remember the exact location the man had died, scenting the air as he tried to discern which scent was which through all the blood. "Here, this is where he fell." He muttered when he found the blood stain from Sparda's body. "So then WHERE the hell is he?!"

"Wow, that IS odd. Wonder where he went..."

"Summit this isn't the time to play games this is SERIOUS!" Memphis growled.

"OK OK..." Summit held his hands up in mock defeat. "What should we do?"

"We need to speak to the higher-ups about this... NOW." In a panic the king quickly disposed of what corpses remained and retreated with Summit to their home to try and locate the Dark Knights remains...

"Oh yeah!" Summit exclaimed like he suddenly remembered the event. "We never did find out where his body went either." He snickered.

"And this is cause to laugh?" Shion asked shaking her head at the silver/blue haired demon.

"So... What you're all saying is... Sparda may still be alive?" Night finally spoke up. Ceirek eyed the young boy again before replying.

"I'm telling you not to give impossibility to the idea..." He said.

"You know something, I DO remember Fin mentioning some shaman in their world that could bring the dead back... What was his name?" Nero added.

"Uriel?" Summit responded.

"Who?" Dante asked a little confused.

"Don't you remember Dante? Fin mentioned this guy just before Memphis brought Jesileth through the gate." Nero started to explain.

_**Moments before Jesileth's arrival**_

"Say, I gotta question for yeah pops." Dante interrupted with a sly grin. Sparda just sighed, covering his eyes with his hand.

"What is it Dante..."

"How is it that you're still alive?"

"It's not that hard to find one capable of bringing back the dead Dante..."

"Care to explain that in further detail Father?" Vergil questioned crossing his arms.

"He probably sought out Uriel Ishmadien through someone else..." Fin stated in his usual casual tone.

"Uriel Ishmadien? Who the hell is that?" Nero asked.

"He's an immortal shaman in the demon worlds capable of such a feat..."

"So what you're saying is this URIEL guy could possibly have gotten a hold of my father's body again and brought him back to life?" Dante asked skeptically.

"You don't believe him?" Night asked looking to his older brother. Dante sighed again and shook his head lightly.

"I don't buy it no."

"Well, then I guess there's only one way to find out." Shion said as she stood up.

"And that would be?" Vergil asked annoyed.

"Shion, don't be doing anything stupid..." Memphis growled from his spot on the couch.

"Oh ye men of little faith." Shion sighed dramatically. "The only way to figure this out is to go ask the man himself and there's only one place an informant of that kind could be found."

"Ask WHO and WHERE?" Memphis groaned inwardly when Shion's eyes lit up and a mischievous grin creased her lips.

"We're going to find that shaman and we're going to start at The Crimson Flame."


	8. Rival Bars

Night couldn't help the squinting. He found it UNBELIEVAVLY bright in this bar, The Crimson Flame. It wasn't that he'd never been here before, that wasn't it at all. If he recalled correctly the bouncer had threatened to throw him out once, or was that Shion? Either way his eyes were more accustomed to the purple lights in The Black Panther. The Flame was just... To bright for his eyes.

He was starting to think he may have a thyroid problem.

"So." Night's thought induced trance was broken by Dante's voice. "Where's this contact of ours babe?" Night then turned his head to Shion who simply shrugged.

"He should be here somewhere. He'd be the only dateless man at the bar." She snickered in response.

"So you know this contact personally is that right?" Vergil scoffed.

"Pfft, when you say it like THAT you make it sound like we were in a relationship." Shion replied a little disgusted.

"Were you?" Dante asked a little TOO excitedly. Shion just rolled her eyes and stalked off towards the bar.

"HELL NO."

* * *

Azera's green eyes scanned the busy floor of The Panther almost TOO intensely. Those eyes flashed from one person to the next trying to locate this other female bouncer the former employees of The Panther spoke about but so far she wasn't having any luck.

"Oh well." She said shrugging her shoulders. "Might as well sample the booze while I'm here." With that Azera gracefully made her way towards the short and chubby man behind the counter. "I'll take a pint of your strongest."

"Excuse me?" The bartender replied.

"You heard me. I said I want a pint of your strongest drink." She retorted unphased. The man behind the counter looked at her contemplating his options for a moment before he leaned against the black marble top with an exasperated look on his face and said.

"You're from The Crimson Flame aren't you? Gus's bouncer."

"So what? I'm the bouncer, bartender, and waiter. You name it I do it." She huffed. "You gonna mix me that drink or do I have to do it myself?"

"Did Gus put you up to this?"

"No, I'm here on personal business."

"In my bar?"

"I'm looking for your bouncer. I heard she's a female."

"What interest do you have in Shion?"

"Is that her name?" Azera narrowed her eyes at the man trying to gauge what was going on in his head. She realized after a moment of staring though that his eyes were like a locked safe which made it hard to tell what was going on in there. She guessed it was a good thing she could feel his unease. "Look, I came here to check the place out. I've never heard of another female bouncer besides me so I wanted to see what she was all about. That's all." Now the man sighed shaking his head and running his hand along the almost hairless top of it.

"I'm sorry if I seem tense. Gus and I don't have a very good reputation with one another." He leaned against the bar again until he finally decided to offer a hand to her. "I'm Tito, I own The Black Panther."

"Azera." She shook his hand. "I'm the Jack-of-all-Trades at The Crimson Flame."

"So Azera, you want a sample of our strongest drink you say?" Tito said as he turned around and started rooting through the bottles of alcohol behind him.

"That's right. I want to see what The Panther has to offer compared to my own mix." Tito nodded his head with a grin at her words and started pouring various bottles into the glass. He finished it off by garnishing it with a small sliver of watermelon and a strawberry before turning back around and handing it off to her.

"Here you are my lady. One of The Panthers finest and a Tito special." He said with a grin.

"Watermelon and strawberry? Interesting choice of garnish." Azera commented going over the black bubbling drink in her hand. It was bubbly like a soda but it almost looked thick like molasses. It smelled salty at first but with her sense of smell she could detect the subtle hints of sour and the sweetness of the fruit.

"Oh believe me you'll thank me for the fruit after." Tito laughed. Shrugging Azera titled her head back and chugged almost half the glass in one gulp.

"Wow, that's not too bad actually. What do you call it?" She asked as she plucked the strawberry off the rim and tossed it in her mouth. She certainly was happy to have the sweetness of the fruit after the salty after taste of the drink kicked in.

"This is The Panthers signature drink; Le Black Lagoona."

"Black Lagoona? Catchy." She mused as she polished her glass off, finishing with the garnish of watermelon. "I'll take three more for now. Oh and another four to go when I'm ready."

* * *

"Who are we looking for again?" Night asked as he grabbed the back of Nero's coat to pull himself away from two rowdy bikers and nearly pulling Nero down in the process.

"If I end up on the floor because of you I'll kick your ass Night." Nero hollered over the music.

"I thought no one was allowed to threaten him?" Dante joked.

"I never said that no one was allowed to. Just you." Nero growled as he shoved his way forward through the crowed, pulling Night along as he went.

"Knock it off you guys or I'll sic Memphis on you." Shion warned as she eyed them all, Memphis rolling his eyes at the idea of being used like an animal. "As for whom we're meeting..." Shion was cut off when she caught sight of who they were here for. "There he is!" She exclaimed as she ran off.

"Guess we'll find out who he is in a moment." Lady mused as she followed Shion to the bar, the rest of the group not far behind her.

"GOTCHA!" Shion yelled over the music as she practically slammed the man's face into the counter.

"Ouch!" The blond huffed dramatically. "Hey Shion how are yea?" He asked.

"Good. Still dateless I see." She snickered in response.

"Yeahhh... Some day you'll see me here with a girl." The man joked, flashing his blue eyes to Lady and Trish standing behind him. "So, I recognize one of these fine ladies as a regular at The Panther and the tall guy in red but who are the others?"

"You recognize one of them, really?" Shion rolled her eyes with a grin. "Well, this is my friend Lady, this is a business associate of Dante's, Trish." She said pointing to each of them. "Then here we have Nero, Night and Night's older brother Dante." Shion then narrowed her eyes at the other. "And Mr. Freeze behind Dante is HIS older brother, Vergil."

"Ahh, the ever popular Sparda boys. Didn't know he had a third son though." The blond commented, turning his attention to the boys. "Like your name by the way. Night, very catchy." The man winked at Night making Night shift feeling a little awkward.

"Thanks, I guess..." Night muttered.

"And you are?" Dante asked a little impatiently. That made the blond laugh.

"I'm Ethan, nice to finally meet yea Dante. I've heard a lot about you." Ethan said shaking Dante's hand. The hunter was actually a little taken aback by the strength of Ethan's handshake.

"So how do you know Shion?" Nero inquired stepping closer to the bar to avoid blocking the flow of traffic. Ethan took another gulp of the beer in his hands before turning back to the group and saying.

"I'm her older brother." Ethan explained.

"ONE of my older brothers. Speaking of which Ethan, where's Jonathan?" Shion inquired as to her oldest brothers' whereabouts. Ethan took an unnecessarily deep breath and sighed.

"Oh you know Jon, he's out doing the work his little brother doesn't care to do and the king is to good for."

"Watch it, if your dad here's you saying that he'll lock you up; son or no son."

"You're a prince?" Trish asked with an amused grin.

"Yep." Again Ethan paused to stretch his arms high above his head, eyeing Memphis as he walked up to the group. "Hey Memphis. You're still kicking?"

"You're cute half breed." Memphis growled. "How's Cujo...?" He asked as a courtesy.

"Ah you know how it goes." Ethan replied. "The duties of a king are an all day affair."

"Why did you just call him a half breed?" Night asked giving Memphis an incredulous look. Before Memphis had a chance to respond though Vergil cut in.

"He's a half demon, isn't that right Shion?" He more stated than asked. Ethan whistled in response.

"You're pretty good Vergil." He mused. "I am indeed a half demon."

"But you're definitely human Shion. What's the deal?" Dante inquired.

"What do you mean?" Shion asked in response.

"How can you two be related if you're human and he's half demon?" Dante waited impatiently for Shion to reply but by the time she opened her mouth to speak the crowed of people suddenly started freaking out when the DJ started playing the latest hit song drowning out the group conversation.

"What d'you say we take this somewhere quieter?!" Ethan managed to call over the ruckus. Everyone else nodded and proceeded outside the bar. Once on the city streets the group took to looking over their new compatriot with interest. He had short blond hair and ocean blue eyes hidden ever so slightly by his bangs. His skin was pale like his sisters and he bore a tight black t-shirt that clung to his small but muscular physique over which he had a black and white striped dress coat with a matching fedora and pair of faded blue jeans. "Phew, MAN that was loud. Time to go home I think."

"Not until you explain this to me." Dante growled.

"Alright alright calm down my red clad friend." Ethan motioned with his hands to try and calm Dante down. "Don't ruffle your feathers."

"We could always head to The Panther. Tito usually closes early around this time of the month to check inventory so it'll be quiet." Shion suggested.

"Hey that's a great idea!" Ethan said excitedly. "Think he'll still be serving?"

"For you? Always." Shion laughed.

"Great lets go then!" Ethan almost jumped with excitement and looped his arm through Shion's, pulling her down the street while singing aloud to himself. Everyone else could help the grins that came as they followed. Well, almost everyone.

"Are you coming or are you just going to stand there Night?" Trish asked looking back to the young half devil. Night gently shook his head absentmindedly.

"I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about this all of a sudden..." Night muttered as he started to follow close behind them.

"You ALWAYS have a bad feeling about something..." Nero sighed. "Just relax. What could possibly go wrong?"

"EVERYTHING..." Night huffed as he sped up his pace to keep up with everyone else.

"Need I REMIND you how embarrassing your cowardice is Night?" Vergil scoffed from the head of the group.

"No, I'm good." Night quickly refuted, slowing down a bit so he was right behind Dante.

"You scared kid?" Dante mocked, earning himself a glare from the younger man. Dante merely chuckled to himself as the small outfit moved on. "I can take a hint."

* * *

It wasn't long before the purple lights of the sign looming over The Panther were overhead. Night was glad to be away from the glare of The Crimson Flame, at least for the sake of his eye sight. Now all he was worried about was resisting the temptation while he was here.

"Here we are! Home sweet home." Shion smiled to her brother then gave a steely look to Memphis behind him. "No breaking anything this time, and I mean it!"

"Whatever, just open the damn door." Memphis growled. Shion narrowed her eyes at him before turning around and opening the doors to the bar.

"Tito, I'm HOME!"

"SHION! My lovely girl, you've come back!" Tito exclaimed throwing his hands in the air. "I see you've brought friends!"

"Hey Tito, long time no see!" Ethan chirped.

"Ethan what a surprise." Tito motioned to the bar and patted the marble top happily. "Please won't you all come sit. Orders are on the house tonight!"

"You seem REALLY happy Tito, what's up?" Night asked curiously as he sat next to the dark haired woman already at the bar. Tito motioned his hand to the drunken woman with an astonished look and said.

"Guess who this is."

"Who?" Shion asked as she leaned on her brother already seated at the bar.

"Guess." Tito said again. Shion narrowed her eyes at the woman for a moment before rolling her eyes dismissively.

"Ugh, I give. Who is she?"

"This is Azera." Tito said as if she should know.

"The bouncer?" Night interrupted in awe.

"What bouncer?" Nero asked looking to the younger man a little annoyed.

"The bouncer from The Crimson Flame. I'd recognize that name anywhere." Night replied.

"Why am I not surprised you recognize the names of the bouncers who've thrown you out...?" Nero sighed.

"Wait WHAT?!" Shion gasped slamming her hands down on the already cracked top. "What do you MEAN the BOUCNER from The CRIMSON FLAME?!"

"Huh?" Azera suddenly realized she was the topic of conversation and woke herself up a little more. She looked around and noticed all the patrons had left with the exception of the new group sitting to her right staring at her. "What are you all –hic- looking at? See something you –hic- like?"

"Hmm, maybe." Dante said with a grin.

"Don't be such a lecherous fool Dante." Vergil growled as he elbowed Dante in the side making his younger twin yelp.

"Cock blocker..." Dante grumbled.

"Which one of you is –hic- Shion?" Azera asked incoherently as she tried to stand up.

"I'M Shion." Shion growled as she stormed over to the darker haired woman stumbling around. "What are you doing in my bar anyway?" She asked catching her. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Not NEARLY enough... TITO, another Lagoona please."

"You've been giving her the LAGOONA?! TITO!"

"What? She said she wanted to compare our drink to her own mix what's the big deal?" Tito huffed. Shion shook her head in disbelief at her boss.

"Tito, need I REMIND you. It's The Crimson Flame, okay? The CRIMSON freaking FLAME. Not Jo Blow's down the street!"

"I know I know, but after talking to her for a bit I figured there was no harm in letting her try it."

"By the way." Azera stepped in. "How much do I –hic- owe you?"

"Don't worry about it. Drinks were on the house." Tito replied.

"Oh. Well, in that case." Azera quickly shoved Shion off herself catching her off guard and sending her stumbling backwards into Memphis. "Time to see what you've got."

"Excuse me?" Shion asked a little bewildered. Slowly she used Memphis to pull herself up and gave Azera an incredulous look.

"You heard me. I want to see what you've got."

"Uhhh... Okay?"

"Good." Before Shion really had a chance to register what was going on Azera planted her foot in her gut sending her flying backwards into one of the black glass tables, shattering it upon impact.

"Huh, I honestly did not see that one coming..." Memphis mused with an amused grin as he looked over to Shion on the floor.

"Shut up you jackass." Shion hissed as she sat herself up and spat out the mouthful of blood leaving an iron like taste on her tongue.

"Well, so far I'm not impressed." Azera shrugged and started heading for the door. "Guess I shouldn't be too surprised though."

"You wanna go?" Shion growled. "Fine. LET'S GO!" Before giving it much thought Shion shot up, dashed across the room and planted her fist in Azera's stomach the moment she turned around sending her flying into the large double doors. Grinning Azera looked back up to her fellow bouncer and wiped the small trickle of blood off her face.

"THAT'S what I was looking for."

As the room heated up with the tension between the two feuding women the group couldn't help but watch feeling a little uncomfortable. Of course, they didn't know whether or not they should have been worried about this for their own sake...


	9. A little off topic but, we get the point

"THAT'S what I was looking for." Azera's grin widened and she flipped herself onto her feet and quickly swung a foot out aimed for Shion's head.

Shion quickly grabbed onto Azera's ankle in response and wrapped herself around her leg in an attempt to break it but Azera quickly flipped the two of them in a spiral through the air until they both let go and landed a few feet away from each other. Then it was Shion's turn.

The red head swung out with her right arm only to have Azera duck and aim for her thigh. Shion dropped to her knee and swung her leg over her shoulder using her hands to balance herself as she caught Azera in the side forcing them both the ground. Now it was Azera on the move.

The dark haired woman went to grab Shion's leg but she rolled back onto her feet. Instead Azera jumped into the air and double kicked her in the chest sending Shion into another of the glass tables behind her. In a rage Shion got up with a howl and charged Azera, wrapping her arms around her waist and tackling her into one of the black billiards tables causing the wood to splinter and crack with the force.

Azera brought her elbow down into Shion's back making the red help yelp and shrink back giving Azera ample room to bring Shion to the floor. She didn't stay down long though as she was up a moment later grabbing Azera by the collar of her shirt and the back of her neck and slamming her head off the marble counter with enough force to throw Azera back onto the floor.

"Okay, THAT one hurt." Azera grumbled as she stood up and grabbed the drink staring her in the face, polishing it off in a single gulp and throwing the glass at Shion who threw her hands up as it shattered against her skin. Azera then ran across the room and hit Shion head first into the wall leaving a large hole where her body hit.

"Ugh... Guess I should have seen that one coming." Shion huffed dusting herself off. Annoyed Shion kicked up one of the cues from the billiards tables and upon realizing what she was doing Azera did the same. Both women went back and forth in a mock sword fight with the cues until they splintered; then the real blades came out. Both women tumbled with one another across the floor until they broke contact and shot upright.

There they stood, an arm's length away from each other each with a medium sized thin blade at the others throat panting from the exertion. Upon seeing the others blade the two of them started to laugh.

"What the hell is so damn funny?" Dante asked looking at the women in disbelief.

"You carry a blade to?" Shion asked amused. Azera nodded.

"You have to in our line of business sometimes." She said.

"Never know what could happen these days." Shion replied.

"Exactly." The two of them lowered their weapons and smiled. "Thanks for the exercise Shion."

"You're not half bad Azera, for someone who works at The Flame." Shion jested.

"Yeah I guess The Panther isn't all that bad either." Azera mused. "Neither is the booze."

"Hey, if you two are done it's time to discuss who is going to pay for the damages to my bar." Tito threatened the two, fork in hand.

"I think we've got it covered." Azera said, sheathing her weapon.

"Yeah don't worry about it Tito, I know a guy who knows a guy or two. Not to mention Ethan's quite a handyman when he wants to be." Shion added.

"Tis true, and just for you Tito I'd do it for free." Ethan grinned.

"Ethan you're too kind!" Tito chirped happily.

"So... If you two are done trying to kill each other now I think we came here to discuss some business?" Night said trying to bring everyone back to the original topic.

"Right. But first things first." Dante said smacking his fist on the bar top. "Ethan was going to explain to us how it is that his sister here is human when he himself is a half devil."

"Oh yeah that's right I was wasn't I?" Ethan laughed. "Yeah, no big explanation there I'm afraid Dante. Shion's my half sister." That took Dante aback a bit. Of COURSE she was his half sister. As if he didn't have enough reminders about his situation with Night already.

"Half on whose side?" Dante asked half heartedly.

"Mother. We have the same mother but my father's a demon." Ethan replied.

"Not just a demon. His father is Cujo." Memphis interrupted through his drink.

"Who's Cujo?" Lady asked.

"Is he someone we should be worrying about?" Trish added.

"Depends." Memphis grumbled not bothering to look at anyone.

"On?" Vergil growled to urge him to continue.

"On a number of things. Your past, your bloodline, your affiliation." Memphis turned his head to face the elder son of Sparda. "Whether or not you piss him off." Memphis tilted his glass and threw the rest of his drink down his throat. "Cujo is a very different breed of demon from you or I my half breed friends. They have no allegiance to anyone aside from their kin and King, Cujo."

"What's the breed called?" Night asked curiously.

"Akanian." Ethan answered. "We are of the Akanian race of demons. My father's ancestors separated our 'breed' if you will from the rest of the gene pool a long time ago so our blood would stay, as they put it, PURE."

"So your kind hasn't mixed with another race since then?"

"Well, not exactly. In recent years a number of halfies have popped up, myself included. Though my brother and I are the only ones that are half human." Ethan sighed. "Of course as with any race half bloods aren't looked upon very highly."

"Why's it so important to be a pure blood?" Nero question a little put off.

"Normally you can't tell if something's half right? Well with us you can tell. The Akanian race usually has a very dark skin tone. My father for example, his skin tone is a very dark blue. One of our guards has a dark yellow tone and another I've seen had a deep red tone."

"So the half bloods look human like you?" Night inquired.

"No, I'm a rarity." Ethan jested. "Half bloods look like any other Akanian but they usually have a lighter tone their skin. My brother for example has a light purple tone to his skin."

"Guess it's kinda hard for them to hide it then." Dante commented.

"IF we could get back on topic now I believe the relic back at your decrepit old shack you call an office was telling us how our father could still be alive?" Vergil cut in rather annoyed with the turn the conversation had taken.

"Pff, relic about covers it." Memphis chuckled.

"The hell do you mean SHACK?" Dante growled.

"Guys come on, we came here to find Shion's brother to ask him about that shaman not question him about his life or fight with each other." Lady scolded, arms folded firmly across her chest.

"Shaman?" Ethan asked, the new topic having peeked his interest.

"I see I've walked in on something good." Azera commented on the subject matter. "Mind if I hang around?"

"The more the merrier." Shion replied.

"Sure what the hell. The more witnesses to this the better." Dante grumbled. "So Ethan, Shion says you could tell us about this shaman Tennessee's gramps was telling us about."

"Which shaman would this be Dante?" Ethan asked.

"Uriel Ishmadien." Nero added. "I think that's what Fin called him anyway."

"OH! Uriel yeah I know him! He's a good friend of my fathers." Ethan chimed. "What did you want to know about old Uriel?"

"Can he bring back the dead?" Night's question stunned Ethan.

"Uhhh... He sure could but it takes a lot of effort and preparation. Why do you ask Night?" Ethan inquired. It wasn't often he got a question like this about Uriel.

"So... It's possible he could have brought Sparda back?" Night continued.

"If someone were to bring Uriel his body, sure." Ethan replied.

"Then that's all we need to know." Trish mused as she pushed herself off the bar and headed for the door.

"Hey where do you think you're going Trish?" Dante hollered.

"Out. I've got some errands to run. I think the rest of you can handle all this." She dismissed the hunters query. "Later."

"That woman I swear." Shion grumbled.

"Not a fan of hers I take it?" Ethan asked with a grin.

"Not in the slightest..." Ethan just laughed at his sister's displeasure.

* * *

"You're back earlier than I expected miss." Ceirek mused when the blond came through the doors of Devil May Cry. "And you're alone."

"Seems we got the information we needed from Shion's brother, but I'm curious about something." She commented as she seated herself on Dante's billiard table.

"Oh?" Ceirek turned around to face her. "Trish wasn't it?"

"That's right." Trish replied with a smile. "How did you know Sparda wasn't dead Ceirek?" Said man's eyes glittered dangerously as he slowly shifted his weight, the floor boards creaking eerily under his body.

"There are many things a demon such as myself is capable of Trish. Sometimes however it isn't a matter of being capable of anything more than seeking out what it is you desire to know." Ceirek said. "How, pray tell, do you believe it is that I know?"

"You want to know what I think?" Trish replied as she slid herself off the table and strode towards the rogue swaying her hips more than necessary. Upon reaching him she slid her hand up his abdomen to the center of his chest (it was as far as she could reach on him). "I think, it was Sparda that let you out of purgatory." She said never once losing her smile. "That's how you knew he wasn't dead, because you had seen him."

"You may be right miss." Ceirek said grabbing a hold of Trish's hand and removing it from his chest. "Of course, the only one to ever know who let me out is the one to whom the thanks are owed..."

* * *

"You really think Sparda could be alive Lucy?" Summit asked half concerned.

"Ugh. For the love of... SUMMIT!" Fin hissed as he whipped around to face his brother. "If you INSIST on not using my new name then will you PLEASE, for the love of all that is, STOP calling me LUCY! It's LUCIEN! L.U.C.I.E.N. Say it with me Summit. Lou-C-EN. LUCIEN!"

"Okay okay sheesh." Summit waved his hand around dismissively. "Don't need to have such a cow about it..."

"Anyways..." Fin grumbled as he turned around and continued to march up the side of the mountain. "To answer your question I suppose it IS possible if Uriel managed to get his hands on Sparda's body again but I don't see how that's possible. Who could have known he was all the way out there in the first place? NOBODY, not mortal or demon, knows of that place that I don't already know about."

"Tch, yeah and it's not like the Red Eyes could have done anything. He was already with Vergil." Summit muttered kicking a stone on the old worn path. "So if it wasn't anyone we knew about, who could it have been?"

"That's just it Summit I don't KNOW who." Fin growled balling his fists tightly.

"I guess Sparda didn't have many friends did he?" Summit asked hands behind his head and gaze pointed towards the sky. That's when it hit Fin. He stopped abruptly causing Summit to walk right into him and fall backwards almost rolling down the path in the process.

"That's IT!" Fin exclaimed.

"What's it?" Summit asked rubbing his nose.

"Summit you're genius!"

"I am?"

"Yes! Quickly we have to find Larissa!" Fin turned around and started running back down the mountain side.

"What? Why Larissa?" Summit yelled after him. "Lucien slow down!" He scrambled to get up and chased after his brother. "Why Larissa?!"

"Because Larissa can lead us to Viker!" Fin shouted back. "And through him we can find Vinicerik! THEN we'll have our answers!"

* * *

"Can you take us to see this shaman Ethan?" Vergil inquired.

"Uhh not personally no but I could send someone to meet you guys who probably could." Ethan explained.

"Could you do that then?" Shion more demanded than asked.

"But of course! Anything for you my darling sister." Ethan jested.

"How soon can you send them? After hearing about everything you guys have been through so far I'm DYING to get in on it all!" Azera intersected eagerly.

"I can send someone as soon as tomorrow afternoon if you're rearing to go." Ethan replied.

"So we can expect this guy to show up tomorrow afternoon?" Nero confirmed.

"Exactamundo Nero my friend. Tomorrow afternoon, probably closer to 1 o'clock." Ethan nodded in confirmation.

"Well that cuts me out of it. I have to be out of town tomorrow on a job." Lady sighed. "You guys will be fine without me I'm sure though."

"Yeah we'll be fine babe." Dante winked at her prompting Lady to roll her eyes and get up from the bar. "Hey if you see Trish tell her to get her ass back here pronto!"

"Whatever you say Dante!" Lady waved a goodbye and was out the door.

"So I guess it's just us then?" Night said looking to Dante, Vergil, Nero, Memphis, Shion and then Azera.

"Guess so." Shion replied placing an arm around his shoulders. "You don't mind that Azera and I tag along though right Night?"

"Why would I mind?"

"Alright kiddies, I gotta scram." Ethan said getting up from the bar. "It was a pleasure meeting you all, Azera, Dante, Vergil, Nero, Night." Ethan looked to them all and gave a courteous bow to each of them. "Shion my dear it's always a pleasure to see you again. Memphis, good to see you're doing well. Say hi to your brother for me will yeah?" He placed his hat on his head in preparation of his departure.

"Whatever." Memphis growled annoyed making Ethan laugh.

"If I need anything I can give you a call right?" Shion asked.

"Of course! You don't need to ask Shion just call me if you need ANYTHING. I'll be there." Ethan gave her a quick hug, bowed to the rest again and headed for the doors. "If for some reason the guide doesn't show up tomorrow give me a ring and I'll see what I can do. In the mean time as I said if you guys need anything I'm just a call away."

"Thanks Ethan. We'll let you know how it goes." Nero said.

"Say hi to Cujo and Jonathan for me when you see them!" Shion called after him. Ethan nodded with a smile and took his leave.

"Alright well guess we should head back to the shop." Dante grumbled getting up.

"You sound like you're getting tired." Shion mocked.

"No just getting a little tired of playing the waiting game." The hunter huffed in return. "Seems like since Night showed up that's all I've been doing lately; WAITING."

"I'm sorry?" Night said half apologetic.

"It's not your fault Night; Dante's just being a jackass." Nero reassured him as he got up and followed after Dante. "Thanks for the drinks Tito!"

"Not a problem at all Nero. Good luck to you all!" Tito called after them. Everyone waved their goodbyes as they headed off back to the shop to await the guide Ethan was sending to take them to see the shaman supposedly responsible for bringing the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda back life.

Dante just hoped he didn't have to wait TOO long...


	10. Sex Talk and Favours

_Preview image is my own character and artwork ;D_

Sex talk and dictionaries for the win lmao xD This chapter feels like more of a filler but it's actually very important for the story later on believe it or not. Plus I had to find some way to introduce Cassandra in a way the kinda made sense _(even if only to me at this point haha)___

So I may or may not get another chapter up tonight, depends on how I feel when I go back and look at it again like I tend to after writing xD But for now I hope this long awaited update is enough to tie you over for now.

Enjoy~!

For anyone interested in the non-canon characters appearances please view this gallery folder: gallery/39962155

* * *

_(c) Night Conner Sparda/Cassius, Shion "Desiree" Lynn Taylor, Tito, The Black Panther, Lavinia Conner, McKenndra "Mac", Memphis/Tim Anders, Red Eyes, Summit/Damian, Fin/Lucien, Crasious/Mike Anders, Cruesoe, Jesileth/William, Ceirek, Palomar, Ethan, Jonathan/Jon, King Cujo, Vinicerik, Viker, Cassandra Kit, Larissa Kit, Uriel Ishmadien, Cassius and Eva (Night and Cassandra's children), The Akanian Race, Vergil's Restitution look, DMCR series and any installments to the series plus any names/places/races/things not canon to the Devil May Cry series that appear here and/or on the individual chapters themselves are all copyright to Ember Peckham (( Bones / Shion ))_

_(c) The Crimson Flame, Gus, Azera are all copyright to Infernalblossom_

_(c) Devil May Cry, DmC and all associated places/names/characters are all copyright to Capcom, Ninja Theory and their respective associates. All rights reserved_**_  
_**

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_There are three definitions of the word 'Restitution.'_

1. Giving Back: The return of something to its rightful owner  
2. Paying Back: Compensation for a loss, damage, or injury  
3. Restoration: The return of something to the condition it was in before it was changed

"Why are you reading the dictionary?" Dante asked a little more intensely than he'd meant it to sound. He honestly didn't even know he HAD a dictionary until his brother found it. Night jumped a bit and looked up to Dante at his desk.

"I was just looking up a word, I wasn't actually reading it." He refuted.

"Then why are you reading it aloud?"

"I didn't know I was."

"Leave him be Dante." Nero muttered as he flipped through one of Dante's many motorcycle magazines on hand.

"I was just curious why he was reading it is all." Dante replied indignantly.

"Who cares if he's reading the dictionary?" Nero growled back as he threw the magazine on the table and grabbed another one.

"Why is our younger brothers' choice of reading material the topic of discussion?" Vergil suddenly cut in halfway through his own novel. Dante snorted at this.

"Well why not? I think one bookworm is enough in this family. I don't need my OTHER brother spewing out definitions of the words I'm using to boot."

"Well when you start reading something other than a magazine about vehicles or women I'll let you criticize his reading material but until then you have no ground to stand on Little Brother." Vergil slapped his book shut at this. "And I am NOT a bookworm."

"Technically by definition you are..." Night added to the conversation. Vergil looked up at him with a heated glare daring him to continue speaking.

"I beg your pardon?" Vergil growled.

"Well, you seem to like reading judging by the fact that I haven't really seen you without a book in your hand since we got back." Night paused and ducked a little when Vergil shifted his weight in the chair opposite himself. "So by definition you ARE a bookworm." Again he paused and shifted uncomfortably under Vergil's harsh stare. "Or, if you prefer the more technical term, you're a bibliophile..." That had Dante cracking up so hard he actually rolled out of his chair clutching his ribs. This caused a sort of ripple effect as Nero nearly choked on his drink then barely managed to place it on the table when he started coughing/laughing so hard tears started rolling down his face and not long after Shion and Azera joined him.

"Oh my, it seems you've struck quite a chord with your friends..." Ceirek commented as he flipped the page of his newspaper from the stool by Dante's drum set.

"I don't understand what they find so funny..." Night muttered looking a little freaked out. He was more concerned by the red boiling on his eldest brothers' face at this point than what Dante and his friends were laughing at.

"Ahahaha! Bibliophile! That's a good one kid!" Dante finally managed to croak out through his fits of laughter.

"Will you CEASE your INFERNAL LAUGHTER!?" Vergil howled as he shot up out of his seat. "And YOU!" He pointed the book in his hand at Night causing the younger half devil to duck and block himself with the dictionary in his hands. "If you plan on making it to your twentieth birthday you would do well to REMEMBER to show me a little more respect." Vergil growled demonically at him when Night opened his mouth to respond. "If not as someone obviously superior to yourself then as your older brother." With that said Vergil stormed off outside once Night nodded leaving everyone to their laughter.

"Pfft, what the hell's HIS problem?" Azera finally decided to inquire.

"Eh, who knows. With Verg it's hard to tell." Dante shrugged.

"Tch, I think I can take a wild guess what his 'PROBLEM' is." Memphis huffed looking to the door with a devilish grin.

"And what would THAT be, KING?" Shion more stated than asked, arms folded firmly across her chest.

"It's no big secret kiddo. Just look at him. You can see it all over his face!"

"See what? That he seriously needs to get laid?" Azera blurted out making Shion crack up. Memphis just shrugged an agreement.

"It never ceases to amaze me what a female can pick up from mere eye contact..." Ceirek once again commented from the crease of his newspaper.

"If you're all done talking about Vergil's serious LACK of a sex life I wouldn't mind changing the subject." Dante cut in. The thought of his older brother in ANY sort of situation of that nature was almost more than he could handle right now.

"So we should be discussing yours then is that right?" Nero preened. Dante took this as a challenge and narrowed his eyes dangerously at the younger hunter.

"Hooo, talk about hittin below the belt kid."

"So you admit that your sex life is no better than Vergil's right now?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to." Shion chuckled making Dante roll his eyes.

"How did we even start talking about this?!" Night finally hollered from under the dictionary, his face beat red from embarrassment.

"Don't suppose yours is any better Night." Dante mocked.

"Well no! Of COURSE it's not." Night said flabbergasted. "Dante has it not occurred to you yet that I might be a bit TOO paranoid to be thinking about sex?"

"That's because you're too busy worrying about squids, spiders and your landlady." Nero jested.

"Hey, that's not even funny." Night pointed to Nero in warning.

"What's wrong with your landlady?" Azera asked.

"Have you SEEN my landlady?" Night scoffed. "She's a spindly old bat!" Night shuttered at the thought of her and rubbed his upper arms to alleviate the sudden chill in his bones. "Creepy old witch..."

"Who's the creepy old witch?" A female called from the front door startling Night right off the couch. The young half devil shot up to his feet to stare down the cause of his fright but found himself awe struck when he saw the pale ginger, jade eyed woman standing in the doorway. She was clad in a rib length white hooded long sleeve shirt that reversed to a deep red, tight white pants, a black shirt with blue markings on it and a pair of knee high black boots that matched it.

"Oh wow..." Night's jaw dropped.

"And you are?" Memphis grumbled looking the girl up and down earning himself an elbow in the side from Shion.

"Be nice." She growled.

"Well this is some greeting..." The ginger mulled playing with the black ends of the front of her long hair, her jade coloured eyes flashing from one person to the next. "If the guy outside is any indication of what's to be expected in here you can forget this." At this Ceirek stood up and placed his newspaper on the stool he rose from.

"You will have to excuse them my dear." He started. "They seem to have forgotten common courtesy." He slowly strode over to their guest, bowed and extended his hand. "Please allow me to make up for their mishaps."

"And they said chivalry was dead." The ginger chirped and took his hand. Ceirek then raise hers in his to the mask covering his mouth as if he were placing a tender kiss to the top of it, never once losing contact with her eyes.

"Oh no my lady, just older." That made the ginger chuckle and blush a bit.

"May I ask you your name?"

"You may call me Ceirek."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Ceirek." The woman curtsied. "I'm Cassandra Kit, but you can call me Cassie."

"The pleasure is all mine Cassandra." Ceirek now straightened his posture. "Now may I introduce to you our not so chivalric compatriots?" He gestured to the silent group behind him.

"You may." Cassandra agreed and followed him further into the room.

"Show off..." Memphis growled when the elder demon approached.

"Ah, my ever pleasant grandson." Ceirek motioned to the King. "Cassandra this is Memphis. You must excuse his attitude. In the end he does mean well."

"Pfft, the HELL I do!"

"I apologize for him sincerely..." Shion finally spoke up. "I'm Shion Taylor." She shook Cassandra's hand and took over where Ceirek left off. "This is of course Memphis. Here we have Azera." Azera gave a sort of salute to Cassandra at her introduction. "This here is Nero, the one at the desk is Dante and the jackass you met outside is his older brother Vergil."

"Ahh, that explains the attitude then. The ever popular Sparda boys." Cassandra nodded to Dante. "Pleasure to finally meet you." Dante just smiled and nodded his head as a hello.

"Now finally, the wonder struck fish behind you is Dante and Vergil's little half brother Night." Shion finished. Cassandra turned to the silent half devil behind her and smiled.

"Pleased to meet you Night." She said extending her hand.

"Uhh... " Night fumbled around in his head for words but found nothing. Instead his mind chose to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water.

"Oooo, I think Night's in love!" Dante jested with a grin.

"Before we get into another sex talk don't you think we should find out why Cassandra is here?" Azera suddenly asked brining everyone back to the serious world.

"Right." Nero shook his head and stood up. "What brought you here Cassandra?"

"Well I hoped you all could tell me." Cassandra said turning to him.

"Wait." Night finally found his voice. "Did Ethan send you?"

"Yep! He said you needed a guide or something." Cassie replied.

"That's right, he said you could take us to this... Uri Isma-whatever the hell his name is." Dante sighed frustrated.

"Uriel you mean?" Cassie corrected.

"Yeah him."

"Well I COULD take you to him..."

"But." Azera pressed.

"You'll do it for a price am I right?" Vergil continued from the doorway. Cassandra turned to face him and nodded.

"I was told you two were very perceptive." Cassie started. "Yes, I was getting to something to that effect."

"Wait wait, so lemme get this straight here." Memphis began as he stood up from the couch. "You were sent here to help us."

"Yes." Cassie answered.

"And yet here you are telling us that you'll help us for a price?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"What ISN'T wrong with that?"

"Let's just hear her out for a second guys." Night huffed.

"Hey, don't get all cocky all of a sudden because you wanna get in her pants later." Dante warned.

"WHAT?!" Night choked. "That was the LAST thing on my mind Dante!"

"GENTLEMEN." Ceirek cleared his throat. "I believe the lady has something to say?"

"Alright look. You asked Ethan to help you but he couldn't." Cassie explained. "So, he asked me to do it instead and I am willing to do it. I just need you to do something for me in return."

"And that would be?" Vergil more stated than asked. Cassandra clasped her hands together in front of her and took a deep breath before replying to him.

"I need you to help me find the demon that turned my mother to stone..."


	11. The Mansion in the Forest

For anyone interested in the non-canon characters appearances please view this gallery folder: gallery/39962155

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(c) Night Conner Sparda/Cassius, Shion "Desiree" Lynn Taylor, Tito, The Black Panther, Lavinia Conner, McKenndra "Mac", Memphis/Tim Anders, Red Eyes, Summit/Damian, Fin/Lucien, Crasious/Mike Anders, Cruesoe, Jesileth/William, Ceirek, Palomar, Ethan, Jonathan/Jon, King Cujo, Vinicerik, Viker, Cassandra Kit, Larissa Kit, Uriel Ishmadien, Cassius and Eva (Night and Cassandra's children), The Akanian Race, Vergil's Restitution look, DMCR series and any installments to the series plus any names/places/races/things not canon to the Devil May Cry series that appear here and/or on the individual chapters themselves are all copyright to Ember Peckham (( Bones / Shion ))

(c) The Crimson Flame, Gus, Azera are all copyright to :devinfernalblossom: :iconinfernalblossom:

(c) Devil May Cry, DmC and all associated places/names/characters are all copyright to Capcom, Ninja Theory and their respective associates. All rights reserved

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Night ran as fast as his legs could carry him, his heart pounding in his ears and his chest heaving from the effort. He tried not to stumble but it seemed like every root, rock and dip in the path was determined to make him fall, to bring him to the ground beneath his feet. Looking back over his shoulder he swore he could see it, feel HIM on his back, his hot breath on his neck.

It terrified him.

"Night…"

The voice was familiar but he didn't slow his pace.

"Night….!"

Again, there it was. He slowed down a little but the thought that his pursuer was trying to lull him into a false sense of security panicked him.

"NIGHT!"

Night's eyes flew open when he was nearly shaken out of his seat.

"Wh-what's going on?" Night asked honestly bewildered. He looked around himself and found he was in a car. The same car he'd stepped in two hours ago, the same black Cadillac Escalade Memphis had pulled up to the doors of Devil May Cry to take them to Cassandra's home.

The same car he'd fallen asleep in.

"You were having a panic attack or something." It was Nero's voice he'd heard. Night turned his bleary eyes to his friend and sat himself up straighter.

"I was?"

"Yeah. What were you thinking about just now?" Nero asked helping to untwist Night's seatbelt. Night just shrugged.

"I wasn't thinking about anything, I was sleeping…" He muttered trying to rub said sleep from his eyes. Nero gave him an odd look before shaking his head with a sigh.

"Must have been a hell of dream kid." Dante mused from Nero's left. Night looked passed Nero to give a quick glare to his older brother before turning his head to stare out the window. He was way too tired for this crap right now. Instead he just stared at the scenery, watching all the trees roll by his window. He hadn't really noticed all the barren farmland just outside the city was well behind them until now. In its place was a vast land covered in lush forest, the road beneath the car no more than an old dirt path much like the one he ran down in his dream.

He tried not to admit to himself that it freaked him out a little.

"Hey, how much further is this place?" He finally decided to inquire, stretching up from the back seat to look to Cassandra in the front. Cassie turned around in her seat and smiled at him, the motion making Night's heart skip a beat.

"We're almost there, I promise." She turned her head back to the front window and pointed to the top of a tall tower just over the hill ahead. "See that tower there? That's where we're going."

"What is the significance of the tower?" Vergil asked intrigued by the monument.

"I assume you know of the Temen-ni-Gru Vergil?" Cassie asked.

"I'm aware yes." Vergil replied.

"That tower is like the Temen-ni-Gru, only it's not a two-way gate to the demon world."

"It's not?" Dante asked as more of a joke.

"Nope." Cassie smiled.

"Then which way does this tower flow?" Vergil pressed.

"It only allows a demon to come to our world." Cassie finished just as Memphis pulled the car over the hill and brought a grand mansion into view, the tower looming not far behind it. As they pulled up to the large white double doors set between two grand pillars Night couldn't help but marvel at the structure. It was the biggest house he'd ever seen in his life.

"Cool place." Azera mused as she stretched her body out.

"Thanks. It was my mom's design." Cassie commented as she strode up to the doors. "I'll let you guys take a moment to get settled in with your bags. The courtyard is out back when you're ready, can't miss it."

As everyone else headed upstairs to the guest rooms Nero had to take pause when he realized Night wasn't coming with them. He opened his mouth to call to him but stopped when he noticed the look on his face and where his eyes were falling.

Night's gaze was fixed on Cassandra.

"What a sap." Dante's voice broke Nero's train of thought forcing a scowl onto his features.

"Why do you have to do that?" He growled.

"Do what?" Dante asked feigning a hurt look.

"THAT." Nero growled harder. "Why do you have to say shit like that?"

"I'm just pointing out the obvious."

"The obvious?" Nero turned his body so he was facing Dante completely now. "What's OBVIOUS is that he likes her. Don't be such a jackass about it."

"Hooo, someone's feelin a little protective today." Dante laughed when Nero had to drop his bags to punch him and watched as they rolled all the way down the stairs.

"INSANE BUFOONS!" Vergil howled from the bottom of said stairs. "What do you think you're doing? Besides making COMPLETE fools of yourselves?"

"Oh nothing just talkin about our love sick little bro over there." Dante jested motioning his head to Night who was now watching the three of them horrified. Vergil turned his head briefly to Night and then Cassandra before rolling his eyes and heading up the stairs.

"When you two are doing acting like idiots perhaps you can HELP our dear brother to his room? He appears to be lost." Vergil shoved passed the two and proceeded into the upper hallway.

"I'm not lost." Night stated to try and save face. Dante just chuckled.

"You sure? You looked pretty lost a moment ago."

"I'm not lost!" Night reiterated to no avail. Instead his brother merely laughed again and headed upstairs. Nero sighed and trudged back down the stairs to retrieve his fallen bags.

"Night, look." He started when Night joined him. "If you like her you should tell her."

"Like who?" Night was clearly trying to play stupid but Nero wasn't having it this time.

"Come on, really? You think you can hide something like this from me?" Nero playfully rolled his eyes when Night refused to make eye contact with him. "You'll have to tell her eventually and if you don't, somebody else will."

"Well, yeah but you wouldn't do something like that to me would you Nero?" Night asked more for reassurance that his secret was safe for now. Nero grinned as he headed back up the stairs looking to Night over his shoulder.

"Who said I was going to be the one to her?" That only made it worse and Night bolted up the stairs after him.

"What do you mean by that? Nero!"

"Geeze they're making an awful lot of noise out there." Shion muttered as she was rooting through her bags, listening to all the ruckus. Memphis just waved it off.

"They're a bunch of kids, who cares what they're doing." He grumbled. Shion narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.

"I care, when Night's involved."

"You worry too much."

"I'm a goat, it's in my DNA to worry too much."

"Have you tried NOT worrying as much as you do?"

"What would be the point in that?"

"Aie, kid I'll kill yea."

"Who you callin a KID, OLD MAN."

"Sounds like I'm missing something good in here." Azera mused from the doorway, a lollipop with the distinct scent of alcohol coming off it stuck in her mouth.

"Well if you call King's moody gloom something good then I suppose." Shion shook her head at said demon. "Don't suppose you know what those four morons are doing out there do you?"

"Boy stuff, you know how it goes."

"Ah, the usual I see." Shion decided at the moment she was done with the bag before her and simply threw it on the bed. "Well, I'm gonna go see what trouble I can get myself into downstairs before we head out."

"Whoa whoa, what makes you think YOU'RE taking the bed?" Memphis growled at the offending bag on the mattress.

"What makes you think we're sharing a room?" Shion growled back.

"I'm not letting you OR that necklace outta my sight woman."

"Pfft, Puh-LEASE. Like you could do anything to stop me anyways." With that said Shion started for the door. "And I AM taking the bed. You can sleep on the couch." She turned and smiled to Azera in the doorway before she left. "He's all yours darling." Azera smiled at that.

"I swear to whatever GOD may exist I will KILL that woman!" Memphis hissed, throwing Shion's bag off the bed and himself onto it. Azera then took this opportunity to… GET TO KNOW HIM, a little better.

"So." She said as she sat beside him on the bed, her rear AWFULLY close to his head. Memphis's eyes widened at this and he propped himself up on his elbows to look at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked bewildered.

"I just figured we should get to know one another since we'll be spending so much time together." Azera leaned in a little closer to him, her eyes half lidded in the sexiest manor she could muster. Memphis leaned back a bit when the faint hint of alcohol hit him but never let his eyes wander from the green orbs trying to seer through his icy ones.

"Yeah…. Now when you say. GET TO KNOW one another." Memphis started, gently pushing Azera back a bit as he came forward. "HOW exactly do you mean that…?"

"Oh you know, I thought we could… TALK." Azera let her left hand trail up the king's leg a bit. "To start. Then we could... try something else." Azera leaned in closer again, this time Memphis turning his head away so her mouth was level with his ear. He continued to watch her as she let out her breath gently on his neck and face. "Something a little more… ADVENTUROUS."

"…. I'm married, just so you know that."

"So?" Azera never faltered even once. "Haven't you ever had a ménage à trois, Memphis?"

He REALLY didn't like the way his name rolled off her tongue, and with such ease to.

"Oh no, I've explored that realm quite a bit thanks but uh… Not really what I was looking for right at this moment Azera." He tried to sound convincing, but was clearly failing judging by the hand that kept creeping up his leg.

"Oh I bet I could change your mind, KING." With that said, Azera's hand found its mark and squeezed. HARD.

"Oh my, I seem to be interrupting something…" Ceirek's voice cut the tension in the room like a knife.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Memphis hollered and flew off the bed.

"Oh come on, it was just getting good!" Azera complained crossing her arms. "Cock block."

"Are you kidding me?" Memphis ran his hands down his face. "Look lady, I've got plans for you later. TRUST ME." He growled. Azera's eyes lit up at this.

"Oh yeah? What kind of plans?" Before she could get her answer the man at the door cleared his throat as a reminder that he was still standing there.

"If you two are done with the courtship I believe the young miss would like our presence downstairs?" Ceirek motioned to the hallway. Memphis huffed heavily and walked out leaving Azera bothered on the bed, but that was quick to pass when her eyes settled on her new target. With a mischievous look on her face she bounded off and swayed her way over to the elder demon.

"I bet Memphis would have to get his… ABILITIES, from somewhere. Wouldn't you agree?" She smiled at him. Ceirek looked at her oddly for a moment before leaning down and whispering in her ear.

"I would say he does, however, I am not the one to judge his efforts." She couldn't tell if he was smiling beneath his mask, but it sure sounded like it. "I believe that is a task best left to you my dear."

He had to go and make it worse, didn't he? The jerk.


End file.
